Change Begins in the Heart: A 3 Part TVD Story
by Madisun1020
Summary: Elena wakes up in season four to find she has a growing attraction to Damonl remembering the things he compelled her to forget. Jeremy finds he has an evil inside of him and Caroline is suspicious of Tyler...Lots of my own characters and concepts but still true to TVD! It's romantic, acton/adventure! Please read and review!
1. Part 1: The Awakening

"Elena?" crooned a smooth voice.

"_Elena."_

Elena shot upward on the stiff uncomfortable red leather couch that she had no recollection of how it had gotten underneath her. Gasping, her head spinning, her eyes wheeled around the dimly lit room that smelled of must and cognac. The boarding house. This was odd, because normally she couldn't pick up on that faint of an aroma. But something seemed to tell her to move on from that revelation.

She felt different. Her thoughts were hazy—shifting back and forth between present-day and visions that seemed like memories. She couldn't quite…understand what kind of memories were coming back to her, such as when, where, and why, but for the most part Elena knew what was happening.

A lean, muscular boy with slick black hair hovered over her limp body, on the left side. His lips were moving, saying her name over and over again. She desperately wanted to put her fingers to that mouth, shut him up, but she felt numb, and didn't dare move an inch.

The world around her faded, blocking her vision. But there was another memory, forming around the edges…

There he was again—Damon—and he was standing before her with all the glory not a thousand men could muster as she flirted with him on the side of the road, in pitch darkness, talking of her argument with Matt, and drawing closer to him with every step.

"_I'm sorry. But you just really remind me of someone."_

Until…

Darn! She couldn't remember what happened after that.

On her other arm was the stockier boy, with god-like cheekbones and wavy honey hair. His eyes were red and puffy, like he had been crying and he stared down at her through the red film of sadness. Again Elena felt the urge to reach up and wipe his—Stefan—tears but instead she let her head fall back, her eyes close. A groan rumbled in her chest.

"I guess I'm not dead, huh?"

Damon chuckled, cropped and hysterical. "Well, I'm reluctant to say you're not, but …here you are."

"Here I am," she murmured, moving slowly to an upright position. Stefan helped steady her by cupping a hand to her elbow.

With a sweep of confusion, Elena remembered every moment of the last few hours that had led her to this point. Every face, every word, everything. They appeared out of nowhere, bringing with them a realization that left her reeling.

She had been driving home with Matt; they were on their way to Mystic Falls. She had just hung up the phone, letting Damon go with a weakening of her feeble, thudding heartbeat. Then, out of nowhere, Rebekah was standing in the road, right in their path and Matt swerved wildly and then they were airborne for a few short peaceful seconds until the jarring impact of the water rattled their brains and…

And then she had died.

It wasn't nearly as bad as she had expected it would be. She had been holding her breath for so long and it was relieving to just let go. She felt herself being lifted like riding a balloon and it was so peaceful.

But she was dead. No, she was awake, wide-awake. She lifted a trembling hand and wriggled her fingers. She felt everything. But this was so wrong. She was dead.

In the real world, people didn't come back from the dead. They were born, lived, and ultimately died forever. But she never lived in the real world. Elena was in love with two vampires and her best friend was a witch. Her brother saw ghosts and her aunt had had her heart ripped out of her chest, but only after she had been fed vampire blood and was murdered.

Was Elena ever given blood? No, not in the last twenty-four hours at least….

The concussion. Meredith. No. No, _no._

This could not be happening. She wasn't a vampire. She never wanted to be a vampire. Her previous calm broke. Tears welled up in her eyes.

"Elena…" Stefan murmured, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Oh God, no," she whimpered in a higher-pitched voice, "God, NO!"

"Elena, please, you need to calm down—"

She pushed him away with a strength that took her by surprise. She could feel it pulsating in her limbs, vibrating up and down. Each movement was as quick and simple as the strike of a snake. Graceful. Different. Very different.

Stefan fell back under Elena's force and he flew into the dark wooden coffee table, leaving it in shreds. His legs were suddenly dangling up in the air. Taking advantage of his vulnerability, she leaped from the loveseat and crouched beside him.

"You did this to me!"

And she sank her teeth into his throat.

ooo

Caroline slumped lifelessly in the corner of the Lockwood cellar and wiped the black smears from under her eyes with a tissue. The night was hot and humid and her body had perspiration all over.

Okay, so maybe she had been crying, and wailing, and even some fist-pounding all night after she had returned to the underground cove to find Tyler's body missing. Bonnie must have taken care of it so Caroline wouldn't have to see her lover's rotting corpse. Oh, the dear.

How lucky of her, that Bonnie, that her mother lived. How miraculous that with one out of four odds, she survived. And Elena, she got to keep Stefan and Damon for good. She could go on making the two of them miserable as she played them like toy dolls. Oh, and Caroline lived, too, but that was beside the point…

She had recently said that in every constant attempt to save Elena's life, Bonnie was the one who always got hurt. But now the tables had turned and standing here in the battlefield as the dust cleared, she had been cheated out pf everything she cared about.

"Caroline?"

She whirled around at the sound of Tyler's voice from the mouth of the cave.

ooo

Elena was sipping the red, hot liquid that dripped from the tiny puncture wounds. Her first thought was that it didn't exactly pour out like it would if you were simply sipping from a bottle of water. She had to fight for every drop with intense suction. It wasn't as pleasurable as she had expected.

But even so her hands gripped at his hair and held him in place. He didn't fight it. He simply lay there, letting her obstruct him in ways she had never imagined she would have done before.

Slowly, she could feel him grow weaker even in his stillness. She was drawing too much blood from him. She could feel the urgency but now just as the taste had been repulsive moments ago, it was so intoxicatingly delicious that Elena didn't want to ever stop drinking.

"Elena, what are you doing?" shouted Damon.

"_You want passion, adventure and even a little danger_."

Each time she heard his voice it brought with it another memory, another recollection that confused her and caused her to question her acceptance of the situation.

The memory was wrenched from her brain cruelly and once again she was in the parlor with damp hair, bleeding Stefan dry as Damon rushed forward to tear her away.

With his long arms wrapped around her waist, he pulled with a ferocious strength a hundred times more powerful than her own. She recalled being informed that a vampire gets stronger with age. So of course she would not be as strong as Damon.

"You have to stop, Elena, or you will kill him," he pleaded.

Something about being in is arms was just another sense of déjà vu. She must have kissed this man before. And enjoyed it enough to catalogue the experience…

Surrendering herself to Damon was harder than she would have imagined. But she let him lift her up and prop her against the couch. He touched her hair softly and looked into her eyes.

His eyes were like two oceans.

ooo

Jeremy was pacing back and forth across the foyer, his heart pounding jagged, disjointed rhythms as he waited for the bright headlights to sweep along the window and pull into the drive at exactly 1:52 the next morning.

1:53. The seconds were dragging by and he was getting edgier as the time ticked away, slower than it ever had.

He kept glancing back and forth from the door to the hallway in which Alaric, real, good-buddy, step-in-dad Ric had shown up as a ghost and said his second and final goodbye. And that was when Jeremy realized…

His sister was dead.

But now, stuck without a car, he was waiting for Bonnie to arrive and take him to the hospital to confirm another death.

Tears were streaking down his cheeks. He was done with pride. He didn't care who watched him cry.

1:54.

He hated not knowing what was going on. He gripped his cell phone in his right fist as he paced, hoping for a call, text, anything. Sure, he knew Damon and Stefan would take care of Elena, but he had to be there…

_Knock knock_.

ooo

Staring into the ocean eyes, Elena found her heartbeat slowing. His fingertips were like a shock of reality that although calmed the skin underneath them, sent a rush of electricity up her veins.

"Damon?" she whispered under her breath.

From over his shoulder, she watched Dr. Fell—who must have been present throughout the entire encounter— awkwardly steady Stefan so that he sat upright. The blood flowed from his neck and soaked into the thin cotton fabric of his sweater.

Elena licked her lips to somewhat clean the mess that was her whole lower face.

"Damon?" she asked again. "I'm cold."

She didn't know why she said that. Sure there was a chill from the air conditioner. Although she felt the goose bumps were probably more because of Damon's stroking hand against her cheek.

But some instinct inside told her that this man with straight dark hair would do anything for her. And to confirm, he shrugged off his black leather jacket and wrapped it around Elena's shoulders.

"Better?"

"It's perfect," she murmured.

From the far side of the room, Meredith produced a small, beefy object into her lab coat and, tucking it into a pot of soil behind her, strode forward before Elena could identify what it was. "Elena, what do you remember from what happened today?"

"What was that?" Elena demanded.

She glanced back. "Nothing."

"No, wait—"

"It's a blood bag, Elena," Damon explained hastily, "AB positive, to be exact."

Elena grimaced.

"It's okay," Stefan panted from the floor, rising to his feet, "But we still need to know what you remember from the night. Just think hard. You don't need to know all of it."

With the weight of Damon's touch as an anchor, she slowly said, "I remember how the car went off the bridge, right?"

"Good," said Stefan.

She went on. "And I remember the party." Confusion swept across the three foreheads. "From the night my parents died. Damon was there, and he thought I was Katherine."

ooo

"Tyler? Is that you?" Caroline asked, shakily.

The beefy, olive-toned boy stepped away from the shadows. "Yeah, Care, it's me.

She felt the shock well on her face along with the new set of tears. "I don't believe it," she breathed.

And then she ran at him.

She ran with an excitement, with a heart-pounding hysteria. And, most importantly, with her inhuman vampire speed. The childish laugh escaped her lips reminded her of when she would visit her dad most summers—it seemed like ages ago, she thought, as she collided with Tyler in an impact that made them both shudder.

He wrapped his thick arms around her waist and breathed in her heady rose scented shampoo. Her tears kept pouring out like someone let loose on the floodgates and soaked into his green cotton t-shirt.

Finally, she pulled away and he held her at arms-length. She spoke between sobs. "But…I don't…understand! It's not…possible!"

He smiled wide. "I honestly don't get it either. I mean, one minute I was puking out my ribs, and then suddenly I was fine."

Without hesitation, she crushed her lips to his. There was something different about the way his fingers brushed her hair, her shoulders but at that moment she didn't question it.

They embraced once more and over her shoulder, Caroline couldn't see Tyler smiling wickedly.

ooo

Bonnie half-sprinted up to the porch steps and rapped twice on the door.

Come on Jeremy, she thought impatiently, her whole body on edge.

Just over the trees to the east, Bonnie watched as just the tips of the yellow-orange sun peeked out over the horizon. Checking her watch she noted it was almost two in the morning.

The door swung open leaving a line of yellow light along the semi-darkened lawn, encasing Bonnie into it and blinding her for a moment.

Jeremy was there and he looked panic stricken. His cheeks were wet, his eyes red and swollen, and his hair was arranged in a messy disarray as if he had ran his fingers through it harshly over and over again.

"Bonnie! How is she? How's Elena? Is she okay—"

"Jeremy," she interrupted, her hoarse whisper a contrast to his frantic cries, "I only know as much as you do. But get in my car. We have to get to the boarding house."

He nodded. "I just have to grab some overnight clothes. Come on in. I'll be quick."

A part of Bonnie demanded to know why he hadn't had those already packed before she had gotten here. The other part was just too worried to care, so she shrugged it off.

She warily stepped through the doorway as Jeremy disappeared up the stairs. Her knees bounced in time to the ticking of the nearby clock as she waited for Jeremy anxiously. After a while, she got out her cell and called Caroline, filling her in what happened while also throwing in an "I'm so sorry" about Tyler and then pretending to be surprised when Caroline joyously announced of Tyler's survival.

A few moments later, Jeremy came bounding down the steps with a green duffel bag in his hand.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Ready," he confirmed in an odd voice.

She whirled around and turned the brass knob on the front door. It wouldn't budge.

"Jeremy? It's locked. I can't get it to open…"

Suddenly, she froze. A chill trickled down her spine as the atmosphere in the room pulled in and threatened to suffocate her. "Jeremy…"

She made a one hundred and eighty degree turn just in time to watch Jeremy plunge a knife into her shoulder.

ooo

"Wait a minute," Stefan mumbled. "Damon wasn't there the night your parents died. He got into town after I did."

Damon pursed his lips and his eyebrows went together. This was something he did when the next words that would come out of his mouth were, "Yeah, about that…"

"Yeah, about that," he started, "I, in fact, _was_ in Mystic Falls when your car went off the bridge. Elena and I had this discussion about—"

"Relationships," she finished. "We talked about what we wanted in relationships, didn't we? And you didn't know what you wanted. After that the evening is a total blank."

"What?" Stefan demanded.

Meredith cleared her throat. "Er, I'm going to go…to the hospital and check on Matt."

"Matt!" Elena gasped. "Oh my god. What happened to him? Is he okay?"

"He's fine Elena," Meredith assured her. "He did inhale a little water but he's alright now."

"But he was unconscious!"

She looked down at her shoes. "Well, he might have hit his head against the glass in the window. Nothing serious."

"Well then I need to see him. Now. Is he awake?"

"No not yet, but Elena, I don't think that's a good idea."

Elena pushed out of Damon's arms and jumped from the plush cushions. Her head spun and she faltered as she landed, going weak in the knees. She was losing energy from lack of blood. It was only a matter of time before…

But Damon caught her and steadied her.

"Thanks," she murmured only to him. Then to Meredith, "No,  
I'm seeing him now. Which room is he in?"

The doctor sighed. "Stefan, stay here until you've built up your strength—" Elena winced—"Damon, make sure you keep an eye on Elena and come with me."

He wound his fingers through Elena's gently, though she could see the wariness behind the gesture as they followed Meredith out into the yard and climbed into Meredith's Corolla. A few minutes later they arrived at Mystic Falls Medical, again, and they were led across the lobby to a door labeled **Emergency Trauma Room 117. **The dark-headed doctor slowly pushed it aside to allow the other two to get in.

Matt had the only bed in the room, propped up all the way so his slumber looked more like tired sitting. His eyelids and lips were deep blue and his complexion was waxy. Clear tubes went all the way up and down both his arms and were taped under his nose. An IV dripped beside him.

Elena towed Damon along with her to Matt's bedside. "Why hasn't he woken up yet?" she demanded.

Meredith was quiet from across the room. "That's completely normal for patients with head injuries."

"I think we've got it from here, Meredith," said Damon, subtly.

She nodded and left the room silently.

He turned to face Elena. "Look I know this doesn't seem that important in light of everything, but we should probably talk about that memory that you had, about me. You're most likely very confused right now and I understand—"

Damon stopped talking. He watched Elena, knowing she hadn't heard a word he had just said. She wasn't listening because she was intently staring at the deep maroon stains of blood that were matted in the blonde boy's hair.

Lightly, with her finger, she began to trace the pattern of veins that went up from his wrist.

Oh god, thought Damon. What was he supposed to do? He had no idea if Elena had been planning to transition or not. And if she were, would she want it to be blood from her friend. If Stefan were here right now, he would probably know exactly what to do. He could just hear his voice, _it's her choice, Damon._

Yeah, Damon thought, except her choice always winds up very nearly taking herself away from me forever.

Was he being selfish? Who cares? Maybe that's why Elena had dumped him for his more practical brother.

Elena was completely out of it. Her brown eyes glazed over and she slowly licked her lips. Seductive, Damon noticed. But he had to shake his head of the thought if he was going to be able to deal with her.

"Elena, control it. If you need blood, we'll get you a blood bag…"

Was that the best he could do? She hardly blinked when he spoke.

He steeled himself to grip her forearms and yank her away in one of those flash-lightning movements of his.

He should have known she would resist.

He had been in her position once of course. Scared, with raw power trembling in your muscles and hungry. So hungry you wouldn't care what you had to do, or who you had to kill, to get blood.

She struck him against his throat, closing his breathing pipe for a split second. It knocked the air out of him and he stumbled backward, only to get the perfect view as Elena leaped onto the hospital bed, hovering over the boy, and sank her teeth into his wrist.

She wasn't out of practice with this. Drinking Stefan's blood had given her an idea of what to expect. Instantly the blood flowed directly into her mouth and she gulped it down ferociously.

Damon threw himself at her. He had her pinned on the floor with his hundred-year-old strength and whispered soothing words to her, trying to calm her down.

"Elena. Shh, everything's all right."

Her eyes were wide as she opened her mouth to expose her new set of bloody red fangs.

ooo

The room spun around Bonnie as the blade slid out of her, slicing at tissue and tendons that screamed in fiery pain. The knife came out glinting red.

She watched the stamina fade into Jeremy's eyes as he raised the knife for the second strike. This time she was ready. Only able to lift her left arm halfway, she ducked out of the way as the knife came down on empty air. She crawled behind him and kicked his legs, right in the knee and he yelped before falling to the ground.

The knife cut at her calf.

He scrambled to get back on his feet as she ran through the hallway and into the kitchen, frantically searching for a weapon of her own. When she picked up the cleaver, she had a realization that she had no intention of hurting Jeremy. She put it down and ran for the stairs.

She heard his pursuit behind her and started for Elena's room, limping the whole way. She alone knew there was a way of going out the window that Elena had put up in sophomore year, to sneak out at night when her parents were asleep. But as she slammed the door, she saw his arms protrude from the space between the door and the doorway and block her from shutting it.

The ebony jeweled Gilbert ring glittered on his right ring finger.

Desperately she cried, "Ves montos, incantarta!"  
His hands became limp and fell away from the door. She closed it successfully and darted towards the window. She only had moments left before the paralysis wore off.

Leaning out into the cool night, she felt along the side of the house. Finally, she grasped the thick vine that ran all the way down to the ground. She swung one leg over the windowpane, but cried when the cut was scraped along the vegetation. She landed on the floor of the bedroom gasping in pain.

Suddenly, the door was kicked off its hinges and Jeremy stalked toward Bonnie, knife in hand.

She lay, perfectly helpless on the ground, ready to die until she saw the glass of water on the nightstand beside her. With all the energy that was fueled by her fear, she telepathically threw the glass at Jeremy and watched it break against his ear. He screamed as the shards broke skin.

With the water that dripped down his shoulder, she drew flames, bright orange flames that licked at his rugby t-shirt. He swatted desperately at the fire. Bonnie knew this was her only chance. She had one shot.

She stood up feebly, and punched him in the jaw, knocking him out cold.

ooo

I'm a monster; a cruel, worthless monster.

Elena kept telling herself this as she paced across the hospital ward. Stefan and Damon were leaning against the window across the room. Their arms folded simultaneously and Elena wondered if anyone would ever be able to doubt that they were brothers.

Her hands were tied behind her back with ropes soaked in vervain, and the door to the room was padlocked. She had insisted on it. Stefan had suggested they make a run for home, while Damon was all for retrieving her some fresh blood bags, earning him a couple stern gazes.

But Elena found it in herself to refuse both ideas, as much as she wanted otherwise and had them bring her here, where she couldn't hurt anyone else.

Matt had lost too much blood and was taken to the third floor where Meredith gave him some transfusions. This was good. Whatever kept him as far away from her as possible she would allow.

Out of control, reckless and impulsive; a page ripped from a horror novel.

"Elena, please say something," Stefan begged.

"I don't want to talk about it."

He sighed. She never broke the rhythm of her relentless pacing.

"Don't shut us out, Elena," Damon murmured almost patronizingly, using the full force of his eyes on her.

"I told you, I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk about how less than twelve hours ago I was re-painting Alaric's room and in all that time I managed to hurt you, Stefan, and hurt Matt and turn into this…this beast and I—I'm just so…" she trailed off.

"Say it," Stefan whispered. "Come on, just say it once."

"I'm so…_scared_!" she cried out. "I can't do this, not alone. I'm going to live forever alone, alone forever. I have no one."

Damon took a slow step forward. "I think you are severely underestimating yourself, sweetheart."

Stefan evened himself with Damon. "What Damon is trying to say is think of all the people who care about you, Elena. Us, Jeremy, Bonnie, Caroline…

"Remember, all of your natural behaviors are heightened right now. But don't forget that you control your own mind."

"Don't try to calm me down. It won't work." She lowered her voice, "Nothing could make me feel better right now."

Suddenly, the rising sun broke through the tree line and spilled all of its light through the open window and encased all three of them in its yellow glow.

Elena wasn't prepared for the searing pain that would follow.

Every nerve-ending in her body split in the heat and her skin was on fire. Angry red welts rose all over her body and she waned to die, to end the pain that had only lasted a few seconds. With a passion, she wanted to die, needed to die…She was burning from the inside out now.

She screamed in fury and her wrists wrenched apart, tearing the three-inch thick rope that bound her so she could shield her face with her hands. It didn't help much. The fire only intensified as it spread throughout her whole arm.

And then all at once, the pain disappeared and the blissful cool that followed was almost painful it felt so nice.

Damon had flashed right in front of her so fast that it was a blur. He threw his Armani jacket over her head and used his body as a shield. Then instantly they were in the corner of the room, cringing away from the light, just barely within touching distance of its rays.

"_Let's just say I've been around for a long time. And I've learned a few things."_

Stefan thrust the plastic blinds shut completely. They were cheap and Elena noticed a few lines of yellow peeking through. Once so inviting, they were now beacons of evil, seared into her memory forever.

"Are you all right?" Damon gasped.

She glared at him, her breathing ragged.

"Right, stupid question," he agreed. "You need to be more careful from now on. Lots of things are going to change for you."

"And we need to help her and not make anything difficult for her," Stefan said, sneering at his brother.

He rolled his eyes. "We'll get you a ring as soon as possible."

"You guys really think I can handle this, don't you?" she whispered.

They nodded. "Absolutely."

Things were quiet while Elena's heart thudded unevenly, pumping Matt's blood ferociously. She found she could hear farther out into the hospital. Soft shoes padded around and IV's dripped. Heart monitors beeped and pens scratched. She could smell the soggy cafeteria food and the blood that made her mouth water.

"Why did Rebekah do this to me?" she said to no one. Damon's arms were still around her and she realized that this was true most of the time lately. They had been apart so long; it felt nice to finally be together again.

Was that supposed to be confusing? All Elena felt when Damon touched her was a deep, radiating warmth all over. She smiled.

ooo

Klaus Mikaelson stood shorter than usual, trying to get used to the height difference as best he could. It wasn't usually too hard to be someone else, especially when that someone was one of your sired and then un-sired hybrids.

That would be his excuse of how "Tyler" had survived. Maybe hybrids were the exception to the rule. It was possible.

Caroline continued to hold "Tyler" as tightly as she could and he welcomed it. Her arms were warm and comfortable and different. Kissing her was a whole other subject.

"_You mark my words,"_ he had said, "_Small town boy, small town life, it won't be enough for you."_

He knew she didn't like him saying. Caroline never accepted anyone assuming to know her and her needs. But he could see the reluctance in her eyes, the chink of the wall she built against him faltering. He had made progress.

But seeing her now stare into the eyes of _him_, he couldn't remember how he had felt so strong that day. It was _he _whom she loved. It would always be _him. _

Well that was going to have to change.

ooo

Jeremy woke up with black nylon hiking ropes wrapped tightly around him, wound several dozen times and tied with a complicated looking knot. His head spun and he didn't recall the last three hours. It was as if they never happened.

He remembered Alaric in ghost form appearing in the hallway, and then calling Bonnie to come pick him up. After that, everything was a total blur.

The room was the living room, and Jeremy was lying with his feet up on the couch. The absence of the black-jeweled Gilbert ring was ominous and deafening.

Bonnie stood in the corner of the room with a cracked leather grimoire opened up in front of her. Jeremy remembered that certain one because he had scanned it cover to cover when he and Bonnie searched for clues about him seeing ghosts. Her eyes were intent as she read the faded print.

"Bonnie? What's going on?" he demanded, struggling with the ropes.

She shut the book, raising a cloud of dust, and took a step his way. "I don't know, Jer, why don't you tell me."

His forehead wrinkled in puzzlement.

"Why don't you tell me why you're suddenly going around stabbing people with knives!"

For the first time he saw the crimson blood dried and flaky along her shoulder, soaked into her blouse. On her leg was another line of red.

Then he felt the ache in his lower face, mostly in his mouth and the burning sensation up and down his arm.

"Wait a sec, did you set me on fire?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes and picked up a small round item no bigger than a quarter from off the mantel. His ring.

"Hey, give that back—"

"Jeremy! I can't give this back! Don't you see what's happening to you?"

He shook his head, his eyes still flashing. "What the hell are you talking about, Bonnie?"

"I think the only person who can answer that is you."

ooo

"The lights hurt my eyes," Elena said as Damon and her walked side by side through the hospital. Stefan had gone to retrieve some blood bags from downstairs so Damon suggested they take a walk.

It wasn't as romantic as it should have been, with the almost green fluorescent lights and the coughing and hacking of the residents around her but without her daylight ring, what was she to do? They had left messages to Bonnie but she never answered her phone.

Damon fixed his gaze on a no smoking sign ahead and didn't look away. "Like everything else, that will take some getting used to."

"Lots of changes," she murmured.

"_I just need to say it once. You just need to hear it."_

"And lots of things you never told me," she continued.

He sighed. "Like the night we met, you mean, the night of the bonfire?"

She shook her head. "Well—yes, but also the night you and Stefan rescued me from Rose and Trevor. Something happened that night, too, right?"

He stopped walking and wheeled around to face her. "You know, Elena? I think the best thing to do right now is forget that okay?"

"What? No, Damon, you don't understand, I was just—"

"You were just being typical Elena. I get it," he said as evenly as he could.

Lines appeared on her forehead. "Typical Elena?" she spat.

He nodded. "Typical you. The Elena that hears everything I say, twists it in your head and makes it sound like I actually care. But the problem is, Elena that you had me fooled. I was starting to think that when I talked to you…you were listening to me."

"How could you say that me?" she demanded.

"Just forget it, okay?"

Their walk had suddenly turned into an argument. She didn't know how it had come on so quickly, but here it was.

Heat rose in her cheeks. "Sorry, but you can't forcibly _make_ me forget anymore, Damon. You just might have to actually face up to your fears this time."

"My fears?" he spat.

"Yes," she ticked them off her fingers, bitingly, "Your fear of emotion, your fear of commitment, your fear of being hurt…did I miss anything?"

"You think I'm afraid of you?" He gave a short, hysterical laugh. "What because I love you?"

"Maybe," she inquired. "But I already knew that."

"So what if I am afraid, Elena? What's so wrong about being afraid? It hurts to feel. I haven't felt anything for a hundred and forty-five years. And you know why? It's because humanity is a _weakness_. People can take you, and beat you down, and destroy you like that," he snapped his fingers. "And I don't want that."

Her eyes softened. She lowered her voice. "Why didn't you ever tell me that's how you feel?"

He leaned in towards her and put his hands on either side of her face. "Because no matter what I go through, you will always be my reason to feel. To love. I didn't want anything to change."

His lips were so close to hers. She could feel his breath on her face, warm and sultry. Time stopped around her and all she could think of was Damon. He was everywhere. He was on her skin, in her hair, on her tongue; he was the shockwaves rolling up her back as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She released the women inside her that had always felt caged in her heart, the side of her that reminded Damon of Katherine. Their mouths moved in violently together, filling themselves with as much of each other as possible. His hands moved to her back and Elena simply melted.

"_I love you, Elena."_

"What's going on here?" Stefan's voice broke through the moments and they parted quickly. Damon took an insured step farther back, but his eyes showed no remorse.

Stefan couldn't hide his disgust as he eyed every movement the two of them made. "Meredith snuck us some more blood and I finally got a hold of Bonnie. She said she was on her way."

"Great," said Damon, a little breathlessly, "Shall we?"

ooo

"What? You think I have an alter ego now?" Jeremy asked loudly as Bonnie untied the last of the nylon ropes.

"All the facts are there, Jeremy. You said you don't remember attacking me, right?"

Jeremy didn't answer. She took his silence as a 'yes'.

"And this all happened shortly after I had to stop your heart to desiccate Klaus."

"Even if this has to do with the ring, Alaric died way more times than I have."

Bonnie picked up the grimoire. "I don't know. I couldn't find anything in Emily's spell book about the ring's patterns but I know Samantha Gilbert was quite a bit younger than Alaric when _she_ started killing the founding families. And according to Damon, she only died once."

Jeremy stood up from the couch, intrigued. "So what, you think because Alaric was older, it took more time for his other side to appear?"

"I think that whatever is happening to you, the ring has something to do with it," she said. Then she grabbed her coat from the peg near the door and Jeremy's duffel bag that he didn't remember putting there and walked out into the yard.

She turned. "Coming?"

He hurried out of the house. "'We going to the hospital?"

Bonnie suddenly looked sorrowful. "Jeremy, there's something I need to tell you."

Jeremy didn't like those words.

"Elena is fine. But when the truck went off the bridge, she had vampire blood in her system."

Jeremy's eyes widened as round as dinner plates. "So then she's a…"

"She's a vampire now."

**Author's Note: That's the end of part 1! I'm sorry if it was a little slow and if it seemed like nothing really happened but the next part will be better, hopefully! I'm going to add in the problem with the council and another character… It's pretty hard writing Elena as a vampire but I hope I get better once she gets more used to it! Please review!;)**


	2. Part 2: The Betrayal

"Are you sure about this, Bonnie?" Elena asked, fluttering her fingers so that the glittery blue stone sparkled in the light that shone from her bedside lamp.

"Positive," the witch confirmed from beside the window.

"Don't get me wrong or anything, Bonnie. I trust you but it just didn't seem like much."

Stefan stepped up, always the defender. "I watched her make Caroline's daylight ring, too. It was the exact same spell and it worked perfectly."

Damon sighed heavily. "I'm bored," he mumbled sauntering over to the window with Bonnie, "So let's get this show on the road so I can leave."

And he shoved the curtains open all the way.

Elena cringed and ducked into a crouch, a motion similar to having a ball thrown at you when you aren't looking. But nothing happened.

Oh, she felt the sun on every inch of her skin. It was warm, warmer than before and she delighted in it. Her arms flexed as the light reflected on her pale ivory skin, just a shade lighter than it had been before she became a vampire, and she smiled. She had been so afraid of the sun since the incident at the hospital but now she invited it in to her home with open arms.

Elena giggled. "This is great. Thank you so much Bonnie!"

"Anytime."

"Well as much as I would love to stay and baby-sit the newbie, I have things to do," murmured Damon, clapping his hands together once and heading for the door.

Elena frowned. He had been acting so indifferent since the kiss that she had almost started to think that it never happened at all. He was turning into the old-him, the snarky and rude Damon that Elena despised. But then, overnight, it seemed like that Damon changed. And in helping her and Stefan deal with Klaus, they had become closer.

The corners of her mouth tugged into a grin as she looked at the ring, and remembered how she had come by it.

ooo

"I'm sorry, Liz, but I haven't heard from either of them since I left town," Damon was explaining to the forlorn Sheriff Forbes, standing just outside the entrance to the cellar on the old Lockwood property.

She nodded tersely. "They must have already gone, then."

Damon slid closer in the grass. "Excuse me? Gone where?"

"Out of town, on the run. How should I know? Alaric outed them to the entire council and now that Klaus is dead, they'll be looking for Caroline and Tyler. We gave them all the resources we could but there wasn't much we could do."

He nodded.

The sheriff continued. "Ric or no Ric, they're still angry at us. Carol's been stripped of her position as mayor and I have a herring at noon to decide whether I should serve time for my "unlawful deception."

"Well, should I try compelling them? We can't have the council on our backs right now, and not to mention Elena shouldn't have to deal with them now that she's transitioned," Damon replied, crossing his arms.

Liz pursed her lips. "We'd have to get them off of vervain first and according to my calculations, that will be next to impossible."

Damon sighed and began to stiffly pace the overgrown garden. It was problems like these that caused him to join the council in the first place. But he had never even anticipated the thought that his only friend would _actually _rat him out to the Founder's Council. This was something only John Gilbert might do. If anyone hated that John weasel more than Damon, it was Alaric.

"Wait a minute," Damon interjected the silence, "Did he say anything about me or Stefan?"

"Not that I heard," said Sheriff Forbes.

"And they have no idea about Elena? Or that Klaus and Ric are dead?"

She shook her head. "What are we going to do?"

"Kill them," he said simply.

Her eyes flashed. "Damon, no! These are my friends—"

"Relax, Liz. I was joking…" Damon mused.

She sighed heavily. Damon's egotistical humor wasn't exactly what she wanted to hear now.

"Maybe the council's right," she suggested.

Damon's eyebrows shot up. "What do you mean, _the council's right_? You've been on _our_ side for the past three months now, Liz, don't tell me you've gone back to your vampire antagonism, now."

She raised her hands in defense. "All I'm saying, Damon, is that I want to protect this town as best I can and just _letting_ the vampires come in and pose a threat to everyone is not exactly the best way to do it."

"The only thing you can protect this town from is themselves," Damon snapped. "They think they stand a chance against us and, guess what, they're wrong. They'll only end up getting hurt and that blood will be on my hands."

Sheriff Forbes hooked her thumb into her belt loop and scanned the trees around her. "Look, Damon, don't think because I want what is best for my daughter and for the town I grew up in that I haven't gotten past my hatred of what you are. But I don't believe we can't work together and fix this."

He smirked. "Me neither."

She checked her watch. "I'm late for my herring. Why don't you look into where we stand on the vervain situation and get back to me?"

Damon nodded and shook her hand as she headed back to her police cruiser. "Good luck," he called as she disappeared from sight.

He stood there for a minute or two, watching the clouds roll in and the leaves rustle. A storm was coming in. So Elena could go outside tonight, and not have to worry about the sun. That was good. She needed some fresh air.

He chuckled. Right about now, Stefan was probably teaching her how to catch squirrels and baby bunnies. Or maybe he was filling her up with all the unlucky truckers on highway 65. You never knew with Stefan, these days.

Of course, if Damon had it his way, he would want let Elena to feed on _him._ He wanted to feel how it felt to have Elena's strength be courtesy of his love, to be connected with her on levels they could never connect on when she was a human. He never told her, but watching her drain Stefan the day she woke up made his heart sink in his chest, even if it was out of anger. But why did he never tell her that that was what he felt? She had always been the only one he could open up to. Why was he such a coward?

It was because of that kiss, he thought, the kiss that should have never happened. Because he was not the one she loved. How could he forget that heart-breaking phone call?

"_All I can think about is right now, and I care about you Damon. Which is why I have to let you go."_

So technically, according to the unspoken rule between brothers, Elena did not belong to him. It was like playing with your friend's favorite toy, when he did not want you to. As much as he yearned to deny it, Elena was his brother's favorite toy.

It was also a matter of pride. Pride you had, as a man, not just a vampire. It was completely self-serving that Damon keep his distance from Elena. To him, but also to his brother.

That's why he had to forget the kiss. Forget how stupid he was to even let it happen, how weak. And just move on. Things would go back to the way they were before he even fell in love with Elena. He just had to forget the kiss.

But why couldn't he find in him to _want_ to?

He raised his fingers to his lips, remembering the taste of her on him. Fire and ice, hot and cold. She and Damon fit together so perfectly, and he loved the person she was when she was with him. Her spark, her indignation. He wanted it all, forever.

Damon started his stride through the forest, eager to get back to Elena, when he stopped suddenly. He stared at what was in front of him with wide, respectful eyes.

It was a raspberry bush. It was a thick, dark green bush speckled with plump, juicy raspberries. Gingerly, he pecked one from its stem and popped it into his mouth. He closed his eyes, remembering…

"_Can we not return to the ball, Katherine? I expect George Lockwood will address a toast to father and I would like to be present." Damon suggested, tossing one of his curls from his eyes as he chased Katherine to the backyard._

_Her full purple lace skirt swayed as she circled around a raspberry bush and then finally lay on the damp grass, folding her legs beneath her._

"_I do not wish to go back, Damon. Would you enjoy the night with me?"_

"_I would think Stefan would be better company," he retorted, sinking to the grass, ungracefully._

_She smiled, her glittery teeth shone in the darkness. "You need not be jealous of your brother. I think loving you both is not wrong, Damon, but if you wish me to stop…"_

"_No, of course not, my angel. But why must you court him? Do you not appreciate my love to be satisfied as a lady should be?"_

"_When will you see, Damon?" She dropped her voice to a silky whisper, "I am nothing that a proper lady should be." _

_He couldn't breathe. Katherine did that to him. She could wrap her dainty hands around his heart and enable him to think, to comprehend. She consumed him._

"_You are right, miss Katherine. A proper lady would never love an uncommitted Confederate soldier like I," he mused, his lips turning up at one side._

"_Will you write me while you are gone?" _

"_If it is what you wish, I will write you a thousand letters," he vowed._

_She entwined her fingers in his and he brought them to his heart. "One will suffice," she murmured, "As long as you never forget me, I will be waiting for you to return back to me."_

_He was appalled. "I could never forget you!"_

"_My sweet Damon, there are many women in this world that could fill your heart more than I ever could."_

"_Say all you want, dear, but I will never believe you," he shook his head, stubborn._

_She plucked a large, red berry from the bush and turned it around between her long fingers. "I believe…that your rivalry with your brother is the one thing that will keep us from being truly happy. And for that, I want you to have this."_

_She held out the berry. He took it, his eyes puzzled._

"_Go on, eat it," she urged._

_His eyebrows knit together. "But why, Katherine?"_

"_Once you eat it, it will forever be a part of you," she murmured, pressing the berry to his lips. "Carry with you this night and remember to never let your brother come between you and a chance at love, Damon. And when you find her, give her this."_

_Again, she held her hand up to him and in it was a ring. It was a slim golden band with a crystal setting, in the shape of a butterfly. Nestled in the web of sparkly diamonds, in between the wings was a round oval stone, smooth as glass and blue as the sky._

"_It's lovely," he mumbled, gazing at it appreciatively._

"_It is called lapis lazuli. It is my favorite stone, because it is very special to people like me," she explained._

"_Why is it so special?"_

_Katherine hesitated. "Someone once told me that it had magical qualities and that it could protect the wearer from his own curse."_

"_You mean the vampires? My father told me they couldn't walk in the sun, because it would burn them where they stood," he said, proud of his knowledge._

"_He was right, Damon, but you mustn't tell anyone you have this. It's important to me and I could not bear it being in anyone's possession but yours."_

"_It will be our little secret."_

A lark sprang from his perch above Damon and he jumped from his reverie. But suddenly, an idea sparked in his mind and he took off toward home with lightening speed.

"Damon? Is this really…_thank _you!" Elena gasped later that evening in her bedroom. "But are you sure you want to give this to me?"

"Who else?" he shrugged, gripping her bedpost with a wondering smile.

"I just…"

"You know, Damon, she _was_ planning on using Isobel's old necklace before you showed up," Stefan said shrewdly, leaning against her vanity, "Elena, don't you think you would be better off using that instead?"

"Don't be smutty, Stefan," Damon sneered. "Elena hated Isobel. Why would she use that piece of junk?"

"Well, I _was…_"

Stefan took a step forward. "If you could be a bit more sensitive, than maybe she wouldn't have to _pretend_ to like that old piece of antique crap you have her wearing!"

"Hey!" Bonnie cried from across the room.

The two were silent.

"I don't have time to sit here and listen to you two bicker like two-year olds. I have problems of my own! Now if Elena could please put the butterfly ring on the bed and we'll get started."

ooo

"Elena? Elena?" Bonnie cried repeatedly as Elena continued to stare at her upraised fingers, her eyes glazed over dreamily and her lips parted slightly.

"Oh, er, what is it Bonnie?" she mumbled, suddenly brought back to the scene in front of her.

"Are you alright? What were you thinking about?"

"Just…nothing," she sighed, bringing her hand back to her side.

She giggled. "Okay, whatever you say. But I swear I saw you drooling."

Elena looked around. "Where did Stefan and Damon go?"

Bonnie sat next to Elena on the bed. After a moment, she smiled. "Damon said he had to go take care of the problem with the council, and Stefan got a call from Caroline, asking him to meet her at the cellar."

Elena frowned. "We should be over there. I haven't even seen Caroline since Tyler died. I'll bet she's a wreck."

Bonnie just nodded. "Later. Right now, we have a bigger problem than that."

"What are you talking about?" Elena demanded, growing nervous.

She glanced at the door. "Follow me."

ooo

"You told him we were in the cellar, right?" Tyler asked, shredding a blade of grass into hair-thin strips as he crouched on the stone steps.

Caroline was pacing the width of cave. "He's coming. Just give him some time."

Minutes passed as the two silently waited in the dark underground room. The afternoon shifted to evening, as Caroline could tell from the dim shaft of light that fell through the gate. The air turned a few degrees chillier and by the time they heard heavy footsteps on the stairway, Tyler had a full pile of grass strings.

"Stefan?" she called, her voice echoing on the damp walls.

"Caroline?" he answered, stepping into the cellar. "What's your big emergency?"

She flashed in front of him, blocking his view from Tyler. "It's something _big_," she explained. "But you have to promise not to freak until I explain."

His eyes widened and he threw his hands into the air. "What the…well, what is it?"

"Promise?" she persisted.

He nodded impatiently.

Caroline hesitated, and then taking a deep breath, she stepped aside, letting Tyler in complete view.

"Tyler?" he gasped. "How are you alive? Is Klaus…"

"No, he's gone," Tyler assured him, standing up, "For sure."

Stefan stood there, stuttering for words for at least a minute. Caroline was idling in the shadows with the happiest grin on her dainty face.

"Tyler thinks that maybe because he is a hybrid, and his species is more…new to nature, that maybe that's how he survived Klaus's death."

"But that doesn't make ay sense," Stefan disagreed.

Tyler's eyes flashed. "It makes plenty of sense," he said darkly.

"But we saw how—"

"It makes sense!" he shouted.

The other two waited fearfully as the purple veins faded from Tyler's cheekbones. Caroline whimpered softly and Stefan was struck into silence.

"Tyler…sweetie?" she chuckled hysterically.

He sighed. "I'm sorry, Caroline. But I warned you. He's just too suspicious and I think you're the only one who can be blamed for this."

She glanced at Stefan. "Tyler? For what?"

Then he lunged for Stefan.

ooo

Bonnie kicked open the wide wooden door to the witch burial sight, a deafening creak resounding through the air. "Jeremy? How are you doing?"

He stepped through the threshold and sighed. "Still me."

Elena looked confused. "Wait, what does that mean?"

Bonnie just gave her a look and entered the house, tugging Elena behind her. On the third floor, in a dark room filled with cobwebs and broken paned windows, she sat cross-legged on the dusty floor. She flipped open her grimoire and plopped it down in front of her.

"Wait, why do you need that? Bonnie?" Elena asked.

She ignored her. "Jeremy, come kneel in front of me and bring your ring."

He sauntered over to her. "I thought you said the witches bailed after you brought me back to life."

"They did. But the mystical energy left here when they died can never go away. I'll draw power from the house and the flames."

"What flames?" Elena whispered.

Suddenly, the many stubby candles and candelabras surrounding them lit in synchronization, cutting through the darkness.

"Whoa," she mouthed. Then louder, she asked, "Are you sure I'm okay being here? Damon was kind of kicked out the last time I came with him. I guess I had the impression that they're not fond of vampires."

"I'm sure, Elena. Witches have a sense that can read vampire's…auras, or the kind of Power they give off. Damon's is fairly dark and that's why they didn't want him in here. But yours is good, Elena. True white Power." She smiled up at her.

Elena relaxed as Bonnie gripped the Gilbert ring in her right hand and placed the other on Jeremy's heart, who was kneeling on the floorboards with his eyes closed.

As Elena watched Bonnie murmur her strange words, the details of the picture in front of her finally fell into place for her. The ring, Emily's grimoire, and the diary of Samantha Gilbert tucked into Jeremy's back pocket. She gasped.

"Oh my _god_! Jeremy has an alter ego now?" she cried.

"Shh," Bonnie warned, not breaking the fluid motion of her spell.

Elena harshly pulled her fingers through her hair as she paced back and forth along the room. "I can't believe this," she muttered to herself. "What are you doing to him, Bonnie?"

"I'm trying out a spell that Emily mentions about the ring she invented. She said she had to tap into dark magic to create something so defiant to nature, and that the spirits warned her there would be consequences. So she wrote down this spell hoping that it might undo the evil."

"How does it work?" she wondered.

Jeremy's head snapped back and his face pointed heavenward, his eyes still closed.

"Right now, he's in a trance. This way I can easily reach inside his mind, try and see just how much evil has infested it."

Elena gave a slightly hysterical smile. "So it—it's like a brain tumor?"

Bonnie shrugged. "What's wrong with looking at it from different perspectives? Maybe we thought too hard about Alaric's case, and that's why he only got worse."

"Or maybe because Esther turned him into a maniacal vampire hunter."

It was silent for a while as Bonnie kept on repeating her spell in a muted voice. But then, Bonnie gasped and the candle flames raised twice their height for a split second.

"What's going on?" Elena demanded.

Then Jeremy started screaming.

ooo

Damon leaned against the counter at the Mystic Grill, his glass of bourbon in hand, and stared intently at the back wall, thinking.

How many members of the council were there? He had never paid any attention before, but he was sure that there was more than a dozen. How does one secretly prevent over a dozen different people from drinking an odorless, tasteless substance? It could take weeks, or months and even then, it might not work.

He'd already called Carol, though her immense crying didn't help him hear her any better. He had lost his patience after repeating three times over his questions, and only getting a, "My son is gone, I have no job," blubbered unintelligibly.

The song playing low on the speakers above him shifted, and he sighed. Who really cared if vampire Barbie went on the run, or was even staked? But he couldn't take the chance that she might spill about Damon.

"Need a refill?" said a voice behind him.

He swiveled around in his red vinyl stool to see Matt Donavon on the other side of the bar, his head wrapped in gauze from hairline to crown. He had a bottle of bourbon in his hand and distaste in his blue eyes.

This pitiful human amused Damon. "They finally let you out, huh?"

"Look, do you want another shot or not?" he retorted.

Damon lifted his glass to the boy, a small smile playing on his lips. "Someone's in a mood."

"I've had a long day," he said, pouring a few splashes into his cup. "First, I open up my hospital bill and find I _still_ don't have health insurance. Then big brother original stops by my house, and then I have to walk to work 'cause my truck is in the—"

"Wait, wait, wait." Damon's eyebrows went together. "Big brother original? You mean Elijah? What was he doing at _your_ house?"

Matt shrugged. "Uh, he just said he wanted to apologize for Rebekah running my truck off the bridge. He said if there was anything he could for me, all I had to do was ask."

That's it, Damon thought. He smiled.

"What?" Matt mumbled.

"I just think I found an answer to all of our problems," and he pulled out his cell phone.

ooo

"Tyler!" Caroline shrieked, watching from across the cave as Tyler drove in the last wooden stake into Stefan's arm, pinning him against the stonewall. Three others were stationed in his other arm, and in his legs, enabling him to squirm free.

Stefan groaned loudly and snarled at Tyler, but he couldn't move a muscle. "What the hell is this, man?"

"You'll see soon enough," he replied, smiling arrogantly. "Hmm, I don't think you'll be needing this."

He slipped the blue lapis lazuli ring off of the middle finger of Stefan's left hand, soaked in his blood.

"Tyler, don't do this!" Caroline begged, bursting into sobs.

Stefan spit into Tyler's tanned face.

Tyler pursed his lips as he wiped away the saliva smeared on his right eye. Then he stood for a minute, looking into Stefan's green eyes before he slammed his fist into his stomach.

Stefan leaned his head back and yelled. Caroline cried louder, her heart beating frantically.

Tyler paced back and forth, twirling the little ring on his pinkie finger. "You know," he murmured low, "You used to be such a good sidekick, Stefan. What happened to you?"

He just panted heavily in response, his forehead wet with perspiration.

"Right, right. I know. True love and all." He laughed in spite of himself. "And he found his humanity in the end, and bond between him and Elena powered over all.

"She did choose you, didn't she? Well that must be awkward with Damon."

Suddenly, he flashed in front of Stefan and stepped up on his toes to get in his face.

"But speaking of Elena," he threw another punch in Stefan's gut. "This is for giving her vampire blood. And this is for letting her drown."

And he twisted Stefan's neck. His head fell forward and he became limp. Caroline screamed.

"Oh yes, and as for you, love," he said, turning to Caroline. "Come here."

She couldn't move for a moment. She refused to let her brain comprehend what was happening. Slowly, she lifted a trembling foot, and stumbled his way.

"What have you done, Tyler?" she whispered.

He smiled. "Well, sweetheart, sorry 'bout your boyfriend but," he looked over at Stefan, "He should be fine in a few hours."

"But…why?" She had to control her trembling lip.

Tyler sighed. He looked into her eyes and his pupils dilated. Compulsion.

"Why don't you sit over there in the corner, doll, and don't say a word."

ooo

Jeremy's body was still but his hands clenched into fists as his blood-curdling screams continued, slicing through the quiet tension. Bonnie's nose streamed lines of red, but she didn't remove her hand from his heart.

Elena was still for a fraction of a second, and then she flashed over to where the two of them kneeled on the floor.

"Bonnie! What…is he hurt? Help him!"

"The evil is wider than we thought," she said in a strange voice different from her own. "This one will need my help."

Elena looked confused as she squeezed Jeremy's fist. "What do you mean, _my help_? Who are you?"

Bonnie looked as if she hadn't heard her. "We must help him, or we shall all soon be dead."

The candles went out. Jeremy was silent. Bonnie gasped, her eyes flying open.

"Jeremy? Are you okay?" Elena demanded.

He looked at both of them with tired eyes, and the he fell back against the wooden floor and fainted.

ooo

At the boardinghouse, Damon emptied the fresh blood bag into his glass and took a sip. Moments later, their was a sharp knock on the door.

He smiled and went to open the door for Elijah.

The original vampire was wearing a dark suit and blue necktie. Damon looked down at his own black crewneck and leather jacket, disappointed and slightly embarrassed.

"I was told you're in a slight dilemma with the council," he murmured.

Damon stared at his forehead. "And you owe me a favor, considering your big-headed sister drove Elena off a bridge and killed her."

Elijah frowned. "I am deeply apologetic for her actions. I broke my word, and I am ashamed."

"Let's hope," Damon murmured, turning his back on Elijah and stepping back into the parlor.

"How is the lovely Elena taking to immortality?" he asked conversationally.

Damon poured a second glass of blood. "Well, it was a little rough at first. But, let's say she's gotten the hang of it."

"Good." He took a graceful seat on the red ottoman, and a small sip from his glass of blood. Then, he set it on the table beside him, and straightened his jacket.

"Now, Damon, it is imperative that you know, my debt to you can only reach so far. I swear to you I will pay it, but not extensionally, nor exponentially."

He raised his hands up in defense. "All we need is for you get the council off our backs. I mean, you've been on this wagon for a thousand plus years. Surely this kind of thing came up. What'd you do?"

Elijah pulled at his cuff lings. "You would not be mistaken. Humans have become suspicious of me in the last decade or so."

"And?" Damon urged, impatiently.

"It was handled."

Damon sighed. Bowing his head, he went and sank into the couch across from Elijah and leaned forward.

"We're all alone here, Elijah. If there's anything I can do to stop these white collars with wooden bullets, could you just let me know?"

There was a prolonged beat of silence as Elijah and Damon stared intently at each other. Then, Elijah put his elbow on his knee and cocked one eyebrow.

"Here's what you need to do."

ooo

Caroline was petrified. As much as she wanted to, as hard as she tried, she couldn't stand up. She gripped the side of stone and pushed until sweat beaded up on her forehead but she just couldn't get on her feet. It was as if, last minute, she refused it herself.

Stefan was still staked and unconscious. Hanging from the ceiling of the cave, his head hung back in dangerously scary ways.

Tyler had his arms folded across his chest, leaning against the dark gray wall, one foot propped up on the stone. He stared at her, intently. Caroline felt self-conscious. She wanted to tell him to stop. But she couldn't open her mouth.

"What's wrong, love, cat got your tongue?" he mocked, sneering.

Tears welled up in her eyes. She shook her head, violently, causing her hair to plaster to her damp face. She desperately wished to scream, but it wouldn't happen.

"Looks as if I'll be doing all the talking," he laughed. But then more seriously, "Never been compelled before, have you? At least, not since you became a vampire.

"Well, don't worry. It's not so bad. But how would I know? Hey, remember that night you and I went to the ball together? Good night, huh?"

A cold feeling dripped down Caroline's spine as realization dawned on, unexpectedly and unprepared.

This was not Tyler.

Klaus.

That was how he could compel her. That was how he was strong enough to take down Stefan. That's how Tyler was still alive. Klaus had had a witch put him in Tyler's body. But what witch would do that?

She lost it. With her lips practically glued shut, she jerked around and beat at the stone around her. Sounds emerged from her chest and throat and the banging and clinging echoed all around the cave. She didn't stop until he shouted at her.

"A little rough now, darling?" he yelled. Suddenly, he was in front of her, so close his breath was on her cheek. She froze.

So softly, he lifted his hand to stroke her cheek. Shivers of fear rang through her.

With the upraised hand, he touched her bottom lip. Looking into his eyes, she began to close her mouth around it. Maybe it was just seeing Tyler's face, or maybe he was compelling her. Probably the latter, but either way, she had no idea what she was doing.

Lowering himself to her level, he leaned in and pressed his mouth to her throat.

She couldn't breathe. Every cell in her body rejected him, like an infection. But she found she rather pleasured in his silky touch.

The two tiny fangs punctured her skin.

ooo

Elena lowered her brother into his bed and pulled the dark green camouflaged covers up to his chin. Pressing a kiss to his forehead, she sighed and turned around.

"What?" she asked to a wide-eyed Bonnie.

She laughed. "You just carried a one hundred and eighty pound boy nine miles through rough terrain and trees."

"And?"

"And it's like you're a completely different person now. You're…stronger," she accented.

Elena rolled her eyes and strode from the room. At the top of the stairs, she turned around.

"You think it wasn't weird for _me_, finding out that my lip gloss sucking, 90210 watching best friend can suddenly float feathers and light candles with her mind?"

She smiled.

"So how's Jeremy going to be, when he wakes up?" Elena asked.

"I honestly don't know. I guess we'll see in the morning."

Elena nodded. "What do you think he's after? I mean, Alaric was a vampire hunter, and his alter ego hated vampires. So…who's Jeremy's enemy?"

Bonnie frowned. "Well, he went after me. But then again, Ric tried to kill Meredith and she wasn't a vampire. Maybe Jer was just…scared."

ooo

"What do you need the whole council here for, Mr. Smith?" asked Brian Fell, wrapping his arm around his wife, Holly's waist.

Elijah pulled on his best smiling face and addressed the large group of founder's in front of him. The air was moist and a lot of them were swatting away at flies. It was a few short hours after the storm had passed in front of the Lockwood cellar.

Damon stepped forward and murmured in Elijah's ear. "Yeah, what the hell?"

"As I said before at Mrs. Lockwood's home, I wanted to present to you my idea for my next book on slavery in Mystic Falls and I assumed this slave cellar was the most appropriate setting."

"And why," Brian wondered again, "should we trust you, Mr. Smith? We hardly know you and it's not like we can trust the mayor or the sheriff anymore. We should be out looking for their abominations for children."

Elijah smiled and used the full force of his eyes on him. Nothing happened.

"Please, follow me," he said, motioning toward the stone steps of the cave.

The large group hustled into the cellar. Damon and Elijah stepped aside to let them in. After a moment, when they were no longer in hearing distance, Damon turned on him.

"The compulsion?"

"Just checking," he smiled.

Then the screaming started.

ooo

Klaus dropped his hands from Caroline's shoulders and tore away his fangs from her throat. Blood streamed to the collar of her blouse. He whirled to face the lot of terrified humans.

Good job, Elijah, he thought.

"Welcome, everyone!" he called to the crowd.

He knew what they saw. The two most wanted creatures in Virginia hidden away in a dark cellar. One with blood stained all over his face. And then there was Stefan, hanging from the ceiling, unconscious.

"What have you brought us here for, Smith?" shouted one fleshy-faced man, stepping in front of the woman standing next to him and blocking her from the monstrosity.

"You will see soon enough," said Elijah, stepping into the cellar.

Damon bounded after him. "What's going on?" he demanded, spotting Tyler, Caroline, and Stefan. A dozen different emotions flitted across his face before he finally settled on anger.

Klaus smirked and went over to clap his brother on the shoulder. "Well done, Elijah!"

"And now my part of the deal, Niklaus," he reasoned.

"Oh yes," Klaus exclaimed, as the members of the council began to frantically murmur and panic, "You wanted mother's lost grimoire didn't you?"

"You told me you stole it from her when she was murdered a thousand years ago."

He nodded. "But before I give it to you…"

And he drove the silver dagger through Elijah's chest.

ooo

"Who is it?" Elena asked, as Bonnie pulled her cell phone from her pocket.

Her eyebrows pulled together. "It's Damon."

"What?" she demanded, "Where is he?"

"He said he's at the cellar and…oh no!" Her hand flew to her mouth and her skin grew green.

"Bonnie!"

For a moment, she didn't say anything. "I'm so sorry, Elena."

Elena's heart stopped. Those words could only mean one thing. Someone was lost. It wasn't Damon, and her heart relaxed at the thought. But what if it was Stefan, or Caroline? At least Jeremy was safe in his bed.

"Who?" she asked, barely above a whisper.

"Klaus. I saved his body when Alaric staked him. That's how his bloodline survived."

"But, Tyler…"

"I put him in Tyler's body."

ooo

Caroline felt completely worthless, frozen on the damp boulder, watching as Klaus let his brother's body fall, and then jump on Damon.

Soon, wooden stakes next to Stefan suspended Damon's long body, and curse words were flying from his lip.

"Well, mate, I guess you know what this feels like. Rebekah doesn't exceed in hospitality, does she?"

"Get me down, _now, _or I swear..._!_" Damon shouted.

Klaus just laughed.

"Now, sweetling," he murmured and crouched beside Caroline. "I want you to get thirsty. And you see those juicy looking humans over there, I brought them for you. Once you feed on them, you can leave town with me."

She shook her head, wildly.

"Oh and you can speak now."

"Please, don't do this," she shrieked. "Please!"

"Oh," he pouted, "But I have to."

And his pupils dilated and she couldn't look away from his brown eyes. "Feed on them, and you'd better hurry."

And then she couldn't refuse his commands. Her entire body fought against it but she just couldn't sit still anymore. Slowly, she began to rise from her stone seat.

"Caroline! Stop, you don't want to do this!" Damon shouted, kicking the empty air.

"You think?" she wailed, continuing to stumble towards the trapped council members, "But I can't stop!"

"Try that short one over there," Klaus mumbled, pointing at Brian Fell.

Caroline searched the area around her frantically. Finally, she found a small sliver of wood near her feet. It took most of her strength but after some shoving she gathered it into her hand. She never slowed her advances.

The spike of wood barely touched her skin when Klaus's hand flew to catch it, and flick it across the room.

"No. Feed, now." And he gave her a push.

That was when she realized Brian Fell was right in front of her, wide-eyed and sweaty.

She struggled to maintain the fangs that protruded from her mouth and the purple veins that ran under her eyes but she couldn't. Her fingers found the back of his neck and, shakily, her mouth moved closer to his pulsing neck.

Stop it, Caroline, she thought, you could resist it. But she was lying. If the world burst into flames that second, nothing could stop her from tearing this man's throat out.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, before sinking her teeth into his skin.

Suddenly, pure crippling pain shot through her brain as if every blood cell in her head had burst into bright orange flames. She dropped the pale white man and fell back, clutching her head with her fists. She let out a series of high-pitched wails.

But she wasn't alone. Klaus was on his knees, tufts of Tyler's dark hair in his fist. His face was crumpled in pain.

"Bonnie?" Damon murmured.

Bonnie appeared at the bottom of the steps, her hands raised in Caroline's and Klaus's direction. Slowly, she let the hand pointed at Caroline fall, and the searing pain stopped as quickly as it came.

Klaus continued to scream in agony. Then Bonnie lowered her hand, halfway.

"You promised you wouldn't hurt anyone, Klaus."

Bonnie was the witch that saved him, Caroline realized.

She crawled on her hands and grabbed Bonnie's ankle. "Where is he? Is Tyler okay?"

The witch looked down at Caroline. "Of course. I would never let anything happen to him. He's just…sleeping right now."

She relaxed and released her grip. Her face found the cool ground and her eyes slid shut. It felt so nice, and she was just so tired…She fell asleep instantly, unaware of the chaos around her.

Bonnie pulled the stakes from the wall that had Damon and Stefan captured. As soon as Damon was free, he ran to Tyler and kneed him in the nose, knocking him out cold.

"What are you doing? You're hurting Tyler!" she cried, lying Stefan flat on the ground next to the slumbering Caroline.

"You're the one who witchy juju-ed him in there in the first place," he retorted, coldly. Then, more civil, he looked at the council and sighed. "What are we going to do with them?"

"I can cast a spell to erase their memories from tonight, and of what they know about Caroline and Tyler."

He nodded and bent to pick up Caroline. "You do that, and I will take care of the rest."

ooo

A few days later, Elena was back at the witch burial sight after realizing she had left her favorite jacket there from before. She was quiet and a little crept out as she tiptoed through the halls on the third floor. She tried to remember which room Bonnie had used…

She stopped dead in her tracks as she got a peek into the room in front of her. Hiding behind the doorway, she watched as Bonnie murmured more strange words in her deep, unusual voice.

But this time, Tyler was kneeling before her and his eyes were closed. Small flames were placed around the room and towards the window was a medium sized, dark black coffin, closed.

Similar to the other day, the candle flames grew significantly, and then went out.

Tyler's eyes snapped open.

They wheeled around, completely out of focus and confused. He panted heavily.

"Wh-where's Caroline?" he whispered. And then Elena saw the whites of his eyes as he fainted against the wooden flooring.

The coffin beside the window creaked open, and a body stepped out, wrapped in chains. With a quick snap of his arms, the chains broke and he was free, though his clothes were moth-eaten and holy.

It was Klaus.

He smiled. "Now the fun can begin."

"You swore you wouldn't hurt anyone if I put you in Tyler's body. You broke that promise, Klaus," Bonnie stated.

"And yet you still help me return to my former self. Why?"

"Because I need that grimoire. But that doesn't mean I trust you."

` He raised his index finger." Ah, yes. You wanted my mother's old grimoire. You know, I promised it to my doting brother, but I had other plans for him."

"Do you have it or not?" she demanded.

The floorboard beneath Elena creaked. Her heart jumped but neither of the party before her noticed.

He dug beneath a few piles of old paper on the table beside him and produced a large, ancient looking brown leather-bound book that reeked of dust and decay. Bonnie took it from him eagerly and held it close.

"Had it specially waiting for you, love," Klaus said, "Though personally I don't think it will be of much help, old as it is."

"It will work fine," she replied, acidly.

"And thank you, my dear, for bringing me back from the dead. I have big plans for this town."

**Author's Note: So here was part 2! I know part 1 doesn't seem so exciting compare to this one but it was really just the intro. The last one will be the epic finale so read, review and watch out for part 3!**


	3. Part 3: Dark Secrets

Author's Note: Here is the final part! The last part leaves off with all these questions like, what's Klaus have planned now that he's back in his own body? Or will Jeremy's condition get better…or worse? Will Elena reconsider her choice and fall for Damon? And of course, why does everyone seem to want Esther's long lost grimoire? Well read on and all your questions will be answered!

I also want to warn you that in this part there will be a lot of new characters and concepts that are of my own creation. Julie Plec (producer of the Vampire Diaries show) talks about how she wants a new villain for season four so I thought why not add one myself. I will also bring in someone from Klaus's past who was long forgotten…

** So there is also a few things you should know before I finish this long a/n and let you read part 3! Well first of all, writing this story I really had no idea what was gong to happen, so it was really a learn as you go experience. Also, my favorite artist is Florence + and the Machine and two of her songs have been featured on tvd, both Delena scenes so since this is a Delena story, I listen to her song Heart Lines while writing. So feel free to do so as you read!**

With seven folded plastic chairs under her arm, Elena strode across the backyard to where the perfectly placed rows of seats were. Every so often, she would check over her shoulder for Caroline, who would undoubtedly correct her on whatever arrangement she made to the house or the yard.

But of course, she didn't have to look over her shoulder for Caroline, because now that she was a vampire, not only was her strength and her emotions amplified, but also her instinctual senses. While digging the leg of the chair into the grass, she knew that right now, every volunteer to set up for the funeral was inside preparing the food. Except for her.

Taking a step back, she assessed the décor. Flowers had been planted, violets to match Alaric's eyes, and a canopy was set up towards the front, covered in more violets.

Elena's eyes started to sting. Remembering Alaric hurt her deep inside, and now that she had so much room to _think,_ it was even harder. He had gone through so much for her and Jeremy, and he didn't deserve the things that happened to him. As sad as she was now, it would probably be that much worse at the actual funeral.

It was a small gathering; only those who were in on the secret. Damon had made the decision that the rest of the town just wasn't ready to know Ric Saltzman was dead, just yet, or at least not until they had the proper cover-up story. And so the guest list was she, Damon, and Stefan, Jeremy, Matt, Bonnie, Meredith, and Caroline. Tyler had assured everyone he would be there, though Elena had insisted he stay home and rest.

She sighed. It had been only a month since she had woken up to her new life, but it seemed like years. So much had happened, to Caroline especially, and so a calm evening at Elena's house was exactly what they needed.

She just prayed everything would go smoothly.

Someone slid open the glass doors and stepped out into the yard. Elena didn't turn to see who it was. She continued to straighten the many flowers that had been placed around the entire setup and pick at the slightly wilted ones.

But then cool hands were covering her eyes.

"Surprise," Damon murmured.

Her vampire reflexes kicked in before she could make sense that this was not foe, but friend and she whirled around to plant a fist in the side of his face.

Before she could stop herself, Damon's hand flew up to catch her fist.

"Careful, now, dear, you might get yourself hurt," he smiled, mockingly.

"_Don't_ sneak up on me, Damon," she retorted, taking a few strides away from him.

"Where's Jeremy?" he wondered.

Her lips pouted. "Locked in his room. Why do you want to know?"

His smile flickered and then went out like a light bulb. "No reason, just came out here because I thought you might want the ribbons for the chairs," he said, holding up three spools of thick black satin ribbon.

"You thought or Caroline thought?" she frowned.

He raised his hands in defense. "Hey whatever Blondie might have said to me or may or may not have suggested…"

"Yeah, okay," she laughed.

"Hey, how's that ring been treating you?" he asked, nodding toward her left hand.

Without thinking, her fingers flew up to touch the pretty little ring. "Just fine. Thank you." And she took the spools and began to unwind them. After a moment, he jumped in to help her drape the satin from chair to chair.

"Am I doing this right?" he called later on.

She inspected his work without really seeing it, considering he had just stripped off his jacket in the heat and all he was wearing was a light gray cotton, short sleeve shirt. Elena found it hard not to focus her eyes on his sturdy white muscles.

"Perfectly."

They worked in silence for a few minutes, moving in blurs across the yard as they both ran with lightning speed. Just as they were finishing up, the two blurs smacked into each other from different directions and collided to the ground.

Elena fell face down in Damon's chest. Instinctively, he gripped her body to prevent her from rolling off and hitting the ground. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest, causing the butterflies to scatter in her stomach.

She lifted her head up to meet his ice blue eyes. Suddenly she burst into laughter, a contradiction to his somber gazing at her face.

"Oh, would you look at that," she choked between guffaws, "That was all my fault—"

And then his lips crushed hers with no warning, preventing her from speaking, his mouth moving with such intensity that Elena was taken off guard. His hands held onto her back and gently stroked her hair.

It wasn't till after he slowly pulled away that Elena realized she wasn't sure if she had truly kissed him back, though.

"Sorry," he whispered. "But I just had to do that one more time."

And he stood up and strode back into the house.

ooo

"Could we _not_ bake the mushrooms in sea salt?" Caroline demanded. "Everyone knows that salty mushrooms are a no go!"

Damon stepped into the kitchen reluctantly, knowing Blondie had much more complaints in her than that, and pecked a mushroom from the tray in Bonnie's hand. He felt lighter than air since he left the backyard, knowing exactly why. Being with Elena always made his mind a bit foggy, like a drug.

"Hey! Those are for tomorrow, Damon!" Caroline shrieked, swatting at his hand.

Bonnie smiled. "Don't even try, Caroline."

"Why don't you just go help Stefan move the furniture in the front room?" she groaned.

He raised his hands in surrender and half-skipped through the door.

"Finally pulled yourself from the kitchen, huh?" Stefan mumbled, dragging an armchair across the rug.

"Nice try, little bro, but I'm still not speaking to you yet."

"What because you think it's my fault Elena died that night in the lake? When are you going to get over that?"

Damon took a slow step forward. "When you start owning up to the fact that you wanted her to turn just as much as I did."

"I had no idea she had vampire blood in her system. You think I would let her die just to risk it?" he spat.

He laughed, shortly. "How should I know? You're running around on three legs these days, Stef, just barely hanging off the edge of Crazy Cliff. I happen to totally not be surprised when it comes to you and your actions. So just admit. Admit it to me, and we're back to being the best of brothers."

Stefan shook his head and turned his back on Damon. "I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because you weren't there the day Elena looked me in the eye and told me she absolutely never wanted this!" he burst charging through the room.

Things were quiet and tense in the room for a moment. Damon knew it was time to drop the subject. So he returned to his light, playful banter.

"I think at the end of the day she'll end up choosing whichever of us can pull off the best lie, Stefan. So maybe it's time to a page from my own personally playbook. Love isn't always the way we want it to be. Sometimes we have to improvise."

He pursed his lips, more calmly now. "No. I'm done with lies. I've been lying to myself for months, trying to convince myself I didn't love her anymore."

"And?" Damon wondered.

"And I realized, it's just too hard to fight it, the way I feel about her. I can't pretend like she doesn't mean anything to me. How do you do it, everyday?"

Damon smirked. "Sometimes I slip."

Stefan smiled with him.

"Besides," Damon continued, his tone growing in volume. "We still don't know who she chose."

He was lying, of course. That fateful phone call was branded into his memory, a scar in his heart that would never heal.

Stefan frowned and looked away. "We shouldn't push her on it, right now. She has enough to deal with."

"Don't worry 'bout me, little bro," he murmured, thinking only of the kiss. "But I mean, it's only fair."

"What do you mean by that, Damon?" Stefan asked, dropping his small table onto the ground and standing at full height, to look Damon straight in the eye. His oak leave colored ones were intent and shiny.

"All I'm saying is that Elena took her sweet time stringing us both along before she transitioned. So it would make sense that we make it just as painful for her now that the tables have turned."

He tried to make the taunting in his voice sour with anger, but he couldn't even try. All he could think about was her luminescent face sparkling pale olive-toned skin under the sun. And she was looking at him with her big brown eyes and Damon forgot everything else in the world and he knew he loved her.

Stefan cleared his throat, pulling him from his fantasies. "Okay, Damon. This is what we are not going to do. We are not going to pressure her into anything. Mm'kay?"

"Okay, sure. Whatever you say, little brother."

"Why does that sound like a, _just shut up, Stefan?_"

"Because it was."

He nodded. Slowly, he took a step towards Damon, and then another, until he was close enough to grip his shoulders with two hands. He talked slowly. "You are not going to pressure her."

Intimidated, he glanced away. "Sure," he said as cockily as he could.

"Good." Stefan moved back to his furniture arrangements. "So that means no more secret romantic kisses, right?"

"Yes. Starting now."

ooo

Bonnie had been sorting through deviled eggs and spinach dip saucers for a generous amount of her day. When Caroline and Matt had their eyes turned away, she slipped from the kitchen and dashed to her car on the front driveway.

Once inside, she shut the door and fumbled through the glove department until she found the large plastic storage bag underneath her flashlight, Chap Stick, and map. Delicately, she popped open the seal and pulled out the ancient grimoire held together by threads.

Her eyes glistened with lust as she stared at it. It was a good two minutes before she finally laid it open across the dashboard.

She flipped through the musty, yellowed pages, reading through the spells of the Old World. She memorized the pages and savored every word, drinking in the knowledge.

Then she turned the page and gasped at what she saw.

It was Elena. Or, maybe it was Katherine. It was that same petite face with brown eyes and dark hair, but she was dressed differently. The kind of clothing one would wear about the same time Esther wrote this grimoire.

Tatia.

She had heard stories about her. She was the original doppelganger, the very first one ever. Her blood had been used to transform the Mikaelsons into vampires, and to seal in Klaus's werewolf side. That's why Elena had to be sacrificed in the ritual, because it was her blood spilled to bind the curse.

Esther researched the Petrova doppelgangers.

There were pages, and pages of information that astounded Bonnie. Esther had wanted to insure that using Tatia's blood would actually create a new race, if drunk with the proper magic sustaining it. So she had spent years working to learn anything she could about the Petrova line.

Bonnie read every word until the sun began to set and her eyelids drooped. It was like reading a good book just at the climax. She just couldn't put the old grimoire down.

And it was so fascinating, learning things about Elena that they never knew before. Like how if her blood was properly spelled, it could heal a human or even reverse the transition of a vampire. Or how if she had reached a certain age, she could have had powers. Not powers like a witch, though, but more like a specific talent. When Tatia turned twenty-one she could speed up the process of nature by bringing a flower back to life and be able to manipulate vegetation. Katherine and Elena had never grown old enough before they were turned into vampires, and because of that neither of them would have those powers.

Oh, thought Bonnie, here's a section on what happens to doppelgangers after they become vampires.

It said that the blood in their veins was so powerful that not even the curse of the undead could cancel out the unbelievable magic. Esther knew that.

Bonnie's heart froze into a block of ice as she read on.

ooo

Klaus paced the art room of his mansion, stiffly.

Now that he was back in his original body, he felt rejuvenated. It was as if he had lived through the war. His wretched mother and father had hunted him for as long as he could remember. He was haunted by every constant attempt to have him killed. But Klaus had always been two steps ahead. After every attack against him, he had survived.

And now his doppelganger was running around as a vampire, his head hybrid had broken the sire-bond, his sister had abandoned him and now _he_ was coming.

Klaus had only ever heard rumors of _him_, never truly capable of believing him to be real. But now _he_ was on his way, to where Klaus lived, probably to shove a hand through his heart or to slice his head clean off. Something poetic like that.

He stopped short, mid-pace. No, he wasn't afraid of anyone. He was invincible; he could not be killed. The most powerful witch had even tried, dying in failure. Klaus Mikaelson was not afraid of anyone, not even _him_.

"Niklaus. How wonderful to finally meet you," said a cool voice as deep as an abyss from behind him.

Klaus whirled around, completely surprised. No one snuck up on him. No one.

Standing so formally across the marble floor was a tall man, taller than Klaus, with eyes blacker than the sky at midnight and hair cut to his shoulders, shiny honey gold, like he had just been standing under the rain. His head was rather elongated, his skin tan and leathery, with a slight shadow mustache. He was wearing a magenta silk shirt with sleeves shorter than his elbow, and a velvet vest on top. His black hiking boots were caked with mud, as were his expensive Armani jeans. It was clear he was built like a fighter, with wide, strong shoulders and narrow hips.

Him.

On his left, slightly further behind, was a shorter man, younger, and leaner, with a slightly obsolete sandy, blonde haircut. His attire was cleaner, a beige tweed coat and navy blue sweater. In his fist he gripped a small, silver lighter.

The first man tipped his striped fedora and smirked.

"Mitch," Klaus gasped. Then he cleared his throat and took a feeble step forward, proving himself to this man who radiated an evil like no other.

"So it seems," Mitch answered. "I'm quite taken with your home, Niklaus, although I do apologize for the intrusion. But I noticed an invitation wasn't necessary."

His voice was civil on the surface, though beneath it rang with hostility. Klaus noticed that his statement was meant to be more of a question, and also he realized his hands were shaking. He held them steady and took a deep breath, trying to keep up his usual cockiness.

"I find it a waste of time keeping humans around."

"And when you have unwanted visitors?" asked the shorter man, his name Klaus knew to be Brol, Mitch's right-hand man.

Klaus smiled. "I make them wish they never stepped foot in here in the first place."

They both frowned down at the hybrid. Klaus knew something was coming. This man in front of him had wanted him dead since the day he became a vampire, and even more so since he sired the first victim.

"Do you know why we are here, Niklaus?" wondered Mitch, darkly. Brol's hand twitched with the lighter.

"If you wanted to kill me you would have done it by now."

"Very true," he agreed.

"And," Klaus continued, "You can't compel me. So if my ankles in chains is what you came for then why don't you just leave, because it's not happening tonight."

"Ahh, Niklaus, be careful. You don't want to start a new mess with me now that you've cleaned your previous one. That was…brutal" Mitch murmured.

Klaus's hands clenched into fists and a snarl escaped his lips. He hated Mitch. End of story. How dare he just waltz in here and speak of Klaus's family like that? He was going to finish this, now.

"Let's get one thing straight, Mitch," he said as evenly as possible, "You're kind are a disgusting, malignant race and you don't deserve to live. I'm going to kill you, and then we'll see whose mess it is."

With a powerful leap, he charged for Mitch. He had planned on attacking him as quickly as possible, before Brol could react. But then Mitch raised his hand, palm forward, and suddenly, Klaus was flying.

The world around him whipped into a black mush and he felt as though his insides were rearranged. A terrible high-pitched noise rang in his ears and his muscles turned to jelly as he realized what was happening.

Mitch had many powers, and one of them was teleporting. With his mind he could transport him and anyone around him to wherever he wanted in the world. That and many other talents were what made Mitch so strong.

In seconds, Klaus was not in his home anymore. The air turned chilly and the night was dark. He was outside and the ground underneath him was hard concrete. Faintly, he heard the rush of water and the hum of cicadas.

Klaus opened his eyes to see he was laying flat on his butt in the middle of Wickery Bridge.

"_Niklaus_," said a voice only in his head. "_Over here._"

That was another thing they could do. Communicate through their minds. Without moving their lips they could speak so only one person or a million people could hear. It could drive someone crazy. Klaus looked around for the source of the noise and swatted at his own ears frantically.

Mitch and Brol were chortling at him, having landed easily on their feet a few yards away.

That did it. Klaus's nostrils flared and he stood up to full height. Then he ran forward, his fists pounding through the air and his legs moving so fast they blurred together.

And once more Mitch lifted his arm. And Klaus slammed into a wall.

He fell on his back, his head pounding from the collision. Sitting up, he realized there was no wall, only a blurry film that now separated the two parties, created by Mitch's upraised hand. He let his hand fall, and all in one second, the invisible force field disappeared.

Regaining his dignity, Klaus lunged again. But this time, he watched helplessly as Brol flicked his lighter to life, and the tiny flame exploded into a giant orange fireball, headed for Klaus.

Before it could make contact with his skin it evaporated into thin air once more, but not without knocking Klaus to the ground for the second time, whipping his neck painfully.

Panting heavily, he spit in Mitch's direction. "Alright, Mitch. You win! So kill me. Go on, kill me."

Slowly, Mitch lowered to crouch beside Klaus. He brought his lips to his ear. "I want the girl, Niklaus. You don't need to know why or how. But the connection you have to her is the only thing keeping me from tearing out your liver. Bring her to me. Do so, and you will be free."

The two men turned their backs on Klaus and strode gracefully down the bridge.

"Wait!" he shouted. "What girl?"

Mitch paused and spun around on the heel of his boot. He smiled wide, exposing all of his knife-like teeth.

"Elena Gilbert."

ooo

"Spit it out, Bonnie!" Damon urged, setting his beer bottle on the TV stand and sitting in the leather armchair.

On the adjacent couch, Elena and Stefan had similar expressions of thoughtfulness and worry on their faces. Bonnie had the old grimoire laid open on the coffee table in the Gilbert house, on the page with Tatia's picture on it.

"Well, I might have read something in here," she murmured, slowly, looking into each of their eyes, "Something serious."

Elena leaned forward and leafed through the stiff yellow pages. "Is this Esther's grimoire? Because I think I saw Klaus give you this, back at the witch burial site."

"Why do you have it?" asked Stefan.

"Because I thought I might find another way to kill Klaus without killing his entire bloodline, but I found something better."

"What'd you find?" Damon urged, impatiently.

"A story," Bonnie said. "About two of the most powerful creatures on the face of the Earth. These guys give Klaus a run for his money. There's not even a tangible record of anyone having laid eyes on them. Supposedly, they're older than the Originals. Even those guys give them a wide berth because they've been hunted by them ever since they turned."

"What? Who are they?" Elena gasped.

Bonnie let out a gust of air and looked down at the grimoire. "Well, the most poplar one seems to be named Mitch, but that's just a rumor and there is no way of knowing how often he changes his name to not be discovered."

"Most popular?" Stefan wondered.

"He's older and more powerful than the other."

"Okay, okay," Damon interrupted, standing up and pacing the room. "What makes these guys so tough? Are they hybrids?"

"No," she answered, solemnly. "They're human."

Damon wheeled around to face Bonnie, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Then what's the big problem? Why don't we just go over there and kill them?"

"Damon!" Elena warned. "We are not killing them if they're just humans."

"And if they cause trouble down the road?"

"No. End of story," she said through her teeth.

He sighed. "Fine. We'll leave the bad guys alone because we're the good as gold guys who save bunnies in our free time. What makes them so bad, anyway?"

"I'd tell you," Bonnie said, "But you're not going to like it."

"Aw come on, how bad can it be?"

Bonnie looked between the two waiting patiently on the couch then grabbed the grimoire and dragged it over to her.

"It says they draw massive power from some unknown source. And by massive I'm talking half the lights in New York, okay? Esther looked for a long time but she couldn't figure out from where they get their power. It's like this big mystery because apparently these guys can do just about anything."

"What about a hot spot? Could they channel their power from there?" Elena suggested.

Bonnie shook her head. "Not unless they were witches and even then it couldn't be strong enough for that kind of channeling. But whatever it was, it really made them drunk with the power. They wouldn't even touch a fly until they discovered it."

"Isn't that how it always works?" Damon sighed.

"So what do they want with the Originals?" Stefan asked.

"I'm not sure but I would guess because they're angry that they ever reproduced in the first place. They hate vampires and they always will and they believe that Klaus and his siblings had a choice when they began creating bloodlines. Esther warned them not to, but they disobeyed her. That's also what started the feud between her and them."

"So let me get this straight," Damon started, "We are talking about two super powerful vampire haters who will probably be paying Mystic Falls a visit now that they know where Klaus is."

They shared frantic glances all around the room for a moment or two. Then Damon spoke up.

"As if we didn't have enough problems."

ooo

Caroline entered Tyler's bedroom with a glass of tap water in hand and a smile on her face. Tyler was lying in his bed, on top of the covers and staring at the ceiling.

"Thanks," he said, taking a few sips of water as she sat on the edge of the bed and squeezed his knee.

When she sighed heavily, he set his glass on the nightstand and sat up straight.

"Alright, Caroline, get it out of your system," he half-sang.

"You almost made me have a heart attack, mister!" she cried out, belligerently and without hesitation. "Do you have even the slightest idea what you put me through?"

His eyebrows shot up, and his smile was amused. "How was I supposed to know that Bonnie would put Klaus inside my body?"

"You should have never left my side, Tyler. Things these days are too dangerous for us to be apart. I almost lost you. I was scared and I never want that to happen again. Do you hear me?"

He put his lips out for a kiss. She leaned forward pressed her lips very softly to his.

Without opening her eyes, she lie down beside him on the bed and knit her fingers through his. "So how do I know you're the _real_ Tyler?" she teased.

"Hmm," he mused, "Could Klaus kiss you like this?"

He gripped her hair tightly and this time his mouth glued to hers. She felt his teeth graze her ear as he moved his lips to her neck.

She giggled and pulled both of them beneath the blankets.

ooo

Jeremy's eyes flew open.

His forehead and neck were thick with perspiration and he was lying diagonally on the floor of his bedroom. The first thought that came to his mind was that the tips of his fingers ached and raising his hand to the light, he saw the blood caked beneath his nails, worn down to the nub.

He itched his head, gently, and stood up, looking around his surroundings for any signs of struggle.

Oh, he thought, there it is.

The navy green painted door had long scratch marks running down its length, some criss-crossed and some parallel, some so deep you could almost see through the door.

He retraced his steps. So he had locked his room tight enough with an iron padlock and cleaned out any items that could easily become weapons from his room. He had known that other part of him would show, could feel it in his gut. That's why he had prepared.

He couldn't remember a thing from the night before. It was completely wiped from his brain. Of course the other him had tried to get out. He knew that would happen. But he just needed to know what he was after.

And now Elena had him on every possible antidote Bonnie could find. Herbs and potions, pills and this really disgusting pink slime he was supposed to eat every five hours. But last night had proved that none of them were working.

He hoped with every fiber of his being that things wouldn't end for him like they did for Alaric. He knew everyone was thinking the same thing, but no one would dare say it out loud.

Alaric had gotten so bad that they finally had to put him down, but not before he had been turned into a hunter, his life devoted to ending the vampire race.

But that wouldn't happen to him, he assured himself.

At least, he hoped not.

ooo

"Okay, Bonnie," Damon said as respectively as he could to the witch that saved his life so many times. "I need to get in touch with this Mitch guy. Can you find him for me?"

She walked around the granite island table in the kitchen and paused to make sure no one was in hearing distance before she turned to him.

"You heard Elena, Damon. She doesn't want you touching them."

"And don't you find that ridiculous?" he guessed.

She sighed. "Pretty much. I mean these guys are hardly innocent humans. They've left murders across the entire Eastern shoreline."

He smiled and lifted up his arms. "You see? This is why I think I should pay them a little visit. Purely a fact-finding mission."

Bonnie shook her head. "Damon, even if I wanted to help you go behind Elena's back and find Mitch, I'm not sure I could. There's a reason why he's lived so long, why so many people fear him. I doubt I could get a finger on him as easily as you think."

"Couldn't you give it a shot?"

"Why do you want to see him, anyway?" she asked.

He hesitated and wriggled his tongue against the inside of his cheek. They both had a guess as to why he wanted to see Mitch. But then again, they both had a guess as to why he did anything around here, why anyone did anything.

She scoffed. "Of course. Should've known it would be about her."

"And you wouldn't do anything you could to protect Elena, too?"

"Of course," she spat, offended. "She's my best friend, Damon."

At the same time, they both heard the muted giggling from outside the window and saw Stefan and Elena holding hands and walking along the garden. Something inside Damon roared in hot fiery pain.

Bonnie sighed. "I know you love her. Get in line. But for now, I just need you to be patient. I'll try and see if Esther's grimoire says anything about tracking Mitch down. If it does, I'll call you."

She turned a walked away, leaving Damon all alone in the bright kitchen.

ooo

Elena laughed. "That's ridiculous," she said just as Stefan finished his funny story.

"I swear," he laughed back.

They had been walking and talking for about an hour and Elena was having a great time. Because it had been so long since she had gotten to be with her real Stefan. Not ripper Stefan, or the Stefan with no humanity. Her Stefan.

He raised their entwined hands to his lips and kissed her fingers.

"So, Elena," he said, drawing out her name. Then he was serious, which took Elena off guard. "I'm sorry about Jeremy. It must be hard, with him like this."

She nodded. "Bonnie's doing everything she can, but I just…I want to believe that he'll get better but when everyone else is telling you differently," she paused. "It _is_ hard."

He stopped walking and turned around to face her. He put both hands on either side of her face, something she remembered Damon would do.

"And I'm here, whenever you need me, okay?"

She nodded again.

Then she saw the resolve in his eyes and knew what he was about to do. For some reason, she panicked. She didn't want to kiss Stefan, not with the taste of Damon still on her lips. And then she realized that thinking Damon's name made her go kind of mushy inside. For a split second, looking into Stefan's eyes she imagined them as if they were ice blue, like the ocean…

Then his lips were just inches from hers and she freaked. She lifted her hand to push his face away and giggled hysterically, trying to cover up her big mistake.

His face read confusion as she grabbed his elbow and began to drag him along again.

"You know what?" she exclaimed, her cheeks a deep red, "I'm kind of hungry. You want to go grab a bite?"

"Um," he mumbled. "Sure."

As they took off in the other direction, no one could notice Damon watching from the kitchen window, his eyes surreal.

ooo

"Where do you think you're going?" demanded Matt, who was stacking plastic cups on the food table near the front door, just as Damon came bounding down the stairs with a hiking pack in his hand. "You're supposed to be helping setup in the back."

Damon stopped at the door and turned around to face the blonde boy. "Don't worry about me," he warned.

"Well, Caroline asked me to stay over here just in case you tried to sneak out."

Darn! Damon thought. Could vampire Barbie get any more annoying? And how did she even know he would be the one to sneak out? Well, actually that was probably obvious. He smirked. But did she really think that _Matt_ of all people would be able to stop him?

"You know Matt, I _really_ don't think you should worry about me?" he repeated, cheekily.

He crossed his arms. "So you're really just going to leave and let us do all of the work? Wow, wonder what Elena would think of you if I told her."

Damon's eyes flashed. How did _everyone_ know to play the Elena card?

"Well, I guess you'll never know, Matt, because you're not going to tell her."

"Try me," he challenged.

Damon was truly irritated now. He didn't think he would have to deal with the human to be able to leave. He stepped forward till it was just the plastic folding table that separated them and used the full force of his eyes on him. Matt cringed away slightly as Damon picked up a metal fork and crushed it between his fingers.

"Have a nice day, Matt," he murmured, knowing nothing else was to be said.

He stepped out of the house and went to his blue sports car, parked in the road beside the mailbox. The driveway was loaded with the cars of the volunteers and so he had made sure his favorite car was a ways away from the rest.

Once he was speeding down the highway, he pulled out his cell phone, turned down the radio, and went to his file of voice mails.

He tapped his most recent one from Bonnie.

"Damon? I found something in the grimoire that might help you find Mitch. If he is in Mystic Falls, then he'll make himself known to you. Just make it clear you're looking for him, and you'll see him."

What was _that_ supposed to mean? Make it clear you're looking for him? Could this guy read minds or something?

With absolutely no idea what he was doing, Damon pulled up in front of the Mystic Grill and went inside to sit at one of the many red vinyl stools at the bar. He asked for bourbon like usual and sat all alone, sipping his drink waiting for an idea of some kind to come to him and listening to Bonnie's voice mail over and over again.

He didn't like the way this Mitch guy was starting to sound. Way too…talented. It was like Klaus all over again, except according to Bonnie it was much worse. But the one thing Damon didn't understand was how could a hybrid Original be afraid of some human, powerful or not?

"Day drinking, Mr. Salvatore?" said an accented voice beside him.

Damon turned to find Klaus staring down at him with a playful smile. But there was something wrong with his eyes, something different.

"You ever tried it?" he teased, turning away from him, uninterested in starting something right now.

"Well actually I prefer my drinks to be as ready for me as I am for them," he responded, propping his elbow onto the counter to face the room.

Damon grinned as best he could.

"But," he continued, "By the time they turn stale and are no longer useful, I would probably just dispose of them."

Damon's hand clenched around his glass as he heard the hidden meaning behind Klaus's words. His mind turned haywire and he saw red. It took everything in him not to attack that rotten hybrid right this minute, in front of a crowd of helpless witnesses. Of course, to them it would only be an innocent little bar fight.

"Oh, don't worry, mate," Klaus said. "I know you're not the guilty one for turning Elena into a vampire that's why I came here to ask where your brother was."

"Well, sorry but I don't think you'll find him. We've got bigger problems than you at this point."

"And what would those be?" he asked, amused.

Damon turned to look Klaus in the eye. "Guy named Mitch. Ever heard of him? About a thousand years old, been wanting you dead since you turned?"

Klaus's eyes flashed and his body went stiff as a board. His hands clenched into fist as he sat down beside Damon and leaned in, dropping his voice to a whisper.

"What do you know about Mitch?" he demanded.

"Not much," he answered. "But I bet you do. Could you tell me whether he is in Mystic Falls or not?"

Klaus hesitated. "You don't know what you're dealing with, Damon. If Mitch finds out you know about him, then he will kill you, your brother, Elena and anyone else you love."

"Sounds like someone else I know," Damon muttered.

"I did it to survive, Damon. You don't know these men. But I do. I could help you," he offered.

"I don't need anyone's help."

"I beg to differ."

He sighed and set down his drink. If anyone _was_ going to be able to help, it was Klaus. But could they trust him now that Elena was a vampire, and he no longer had any reason to keep her alive? He had to take the chance.

"Okay, Klaus, start talking. Tell me everything you know about these guys."

He smiled, smugly. "I know they're super powerful, but no one knows how."

"Old news. Tell me something else. What are they after?"

This time, Klaus hesitated. "They stopped by my house last night, around midnight. I was sure they had come to kill me, but I was wrong. I tried to fight them, however I was not as strong as them. They used their many powers on me before finally telling me why they came into town, what for."

Damon was growing impatient. "Klaus. I need to know what they're looking for so I can make sure they don't get it. What do they want? Money? Blood? Come on, Klaus, just tell me what they came here for."

ooo

Jeremy entered the kitchen feeling slightly faint since he woke up. He decided what he needed was a glass of water to cure his head.

What he found was Stefan and Elena drinking through opaque plastic cups in the corner. Elena was smiling brightly and they were holding hands.

Jeremy was a little embarrassed. This wasn't the first time he had walked in on Elena or made wrongful assumptions as to whom she was with. He vaguely remembered the night at the motel in Denver, seeing Damon and Elena kissing passionately outside. Just the memory made him sick.

But Stefan and Elena seemed not to notice anything as he walked in and grabbed him a glass from the cabinet.

"Hey, Jer. Where have you been?" Elena wondered.

"Um…" he searched in his head for a possible excuse as to why he spent practically all day and all night up in his room with the door locked. Of course, there were the excuses from when he was fourteen…

Elena's facial expression turned from curiosity to worry and sadness in a second as she interpreted his frantic silence.

"Oh my god, Jeremy, really? Not again." She flashed in front of him so fast it caused a gust of wind and Jeremy was surprised. She had never acted like the vampire she was in front of him before. He guessed now with these circumstances it was different.

She grabbed his cheeks and swiveled his head around so she could look into his eyes, like a doctor examining a patient.

"How do you feel? How long were you…. you know? Did you hurt yourself?" She kept pouring out questions before he had time to answer them.

"Calm down, Elena. I feel fine," he assured her. "I just need something to drink."

Without thinking, he borrowed the plastic cup that Elena was drinking and brought it to his mouth. Luckily, before it touched his lips, he smelled the sour silver aroma and looked down to see the red liquid sloshing in the cup.

She blushed and took the cup back. "Er, you'll probably be better off with some water."

ooo

Damon felt as if someone had just tied a fifty-pound weight to his heart and let it drop to the bottom of his stomach. His brain disconnected from the rest of his body and he couldn't focus on anything else but Klaus's words, which kept playing over and over in his ears.

"_They've come for Elena. And they won't leave until they have her_."

It took a moment for him to finally find the strength to respond. Klaus watched him sit there, frozen as a block of ice, waiting.

"What do they want with Elena?" he asked in a trembling voice. "Now that she's a vampire, her blood can't make hybrids anymore."

"Oh believe me, Damon, I'm well aware."

He brushed off his snide comment and tried to get his brain working again. Before, he had been looking for Mitch because of the _possibility_ that he might be a threat to Elena, but now he knew that she was what he had came here for. And he was angry.

"What else did they say to you?" he demanded. "Did they say why they're after her?"

Klaus frowned. "I was a little busy not getting pummeled to ask for specifics," he said. "But they might have mentioned something about how if I didn't hand Elena over then they would kill me."

Damon tensed.

"But no need to worry, mate, I'll be the last man to give Mitch what he wants," he assured him.

From behind them, the bartender picked up the near empty glass and refilled it without a word. He threw his towel over his shoulder and walked away. Damon took one more sip and then stood up.

"Where are you going?" Klaus asked, nervously.

He turned around. "To find this Mitch guy and figure out what he draws his power from, so I can get rid of it."

Klaus's eyes widened. "No! Damon, you can't just _pull one over _on Mitch. People have tried for over a thousand years and all of them have ended up dead, or worse."

"But if I take away his power then he'll just be a normal human and we'll be able to keep Elena away from him."

"And you'll be dead before you even get a look at him, Damon," Klaus persisted.

Damon paused. "You know what he looks like, don't you?"

"It won't matter, mate, because there's no chance on Earth that I'm going with you to do something that will make Mitch angry. I'll let you take all the blame for this one."

"But what if I _can_ stop him, but all I need is a little help? Just think, a Mitch-free life."

Damon knew that Klaus hesitated when he spoke. He saw the surrender in his eyes as he pictured the kind of life he could have not fearing Mitch every second of the day. Finally, Klaus nodded.

"Fine, I'll go. But nothing too drastic," he warned.

Damon smiled. "Deal."

ooo

With Tyler wrapped around her waist, Caroline poured eight glasses of champagne. Matt and Jeremy were sitting across the island in the plastic stools and Elena was in the corner, by the refrigerator with Stefan. Both of them had worried looks on their faces.

Bonnie picked up a glass and took an eager sip, throwing her head back to the ceiling, wholeheartedly. She slammed the glass down on the table and looked around.

"Why can't we just get started?" she asked.

Elena seemed disappointed. "I told you, Damon's not here yet. We wait for him."

Bonnie sighed.

Meredith came around the corner with her silver cell phone in hand. "I just left Damon about ten messages on his phone. He's not answering. My opinion? I think we should just get on with the ceremony."

"No," Elena demanded, stomping her foot. "Just give him some time. Damon will be here. I know it."

Everyone in the room shared knowing glances. Bonnie sat in between Matt and Jeremy, giving up, and Meredith drained her own glass of champagne.

"Got to be honest," Matt stated. "I didn't think Damon would be the one not to show up. Weren't him and Mr. Saltzman like, best friends? I mean when I saw Damon sneaking out yesterday—"

"Wait," Elena said, stepping closer to Matt. "He…_snuck_ _out_ yesterday? He snuck out? Why did he sneak out? Why didn't I know he snuck out?"

"Oh no," Stefan mumbled from behind her.

Jeremy stood up slowly, and moved in on Elena. He felt danger and his brotherly protective instincts kicked in right then.

"What is it?" Caroline asked quietly.

Elena gritted her teeth. "He went to find Mitch, didn't he?"

She wheeled around and snatched Meredith's phone from her hand. Flipping it open, she dialed Damon's number and said, "See if he ignores this."

The call went straight to voice mail just like she predicted.

"Damon? Yeah, it's Elena. Look, we're all here at Alaric's send-off and you seem to be missing and we can't start without you, can we? Did you really think you could keep it from me that you snuck out? Damon, wherever you are, we know you went to find Mitch and I specifically told you…"

Her voice trailed off and she twisted her head around to look at Stefan. She sighed and spoke softer.

"Okay, Damon. I only told you to stay away from him because I didn't want you getting hurt. None of us do. Just come home, okay? Come back to me."

She shut the phone silently, and, avoiding the many pairs of accusing eyes, ran upstairs to her bedroom where she slammed the door and hid underneath the covers.

ooo

"So what's this magnificent plan you have broiling up there, Damon," Klaus wondered mockingly. "Or are you just going to wing it like usual."

He smirked. "I guess you'll have to find out."

They had been patrolling the town's square for almost half an hour under the hot sun, going around in circles and waiting for Mitch to show. All he had to do was send a message of some kind, a nudge or a push in the right direction. That's what Bonnie had said, right?

_"Just make it clear you're looking for him, and you'll see him."_

Alright, Damon thought. Mitch, wherever you are, I'm looking for you.

Nothing.

"So," he said conversationally, to fill the void. "You really don't need a daylight ring? You can just scamper in the sun all you like?"

Klaus turned and his smile was smug. "One of the many perks of being an Original. You don't have to waste time with gaudy jewelry."

Damon looked down at his ring, offensively. Klaus laughed at him, as they continued to pace the entire perimeter of the boulevard, coming up empty. Damon had to think. He was missing something.

_"Just make it clear you're looking for him, and you'll see him." _

Okay, Damon thought, here goes nothing.

Without warning, he whirled on his heel and went out in the middle of the busy traffic to stand right on the solid yellow line. With a big, amused grin on his face, he held out his arms on either side of him and looked up at the sky.

Car horns honked as they swerved around him, and people leaned out of their windows to shake their fists.

"Brilliant," he heard Klaus mutter from across the road.

Damon steeled himself then shouted. "Mitch! I am looking for you!"

And suddenly, both Klaus and Damon doubled over in pain as their brains burst into fiery hot torture. It reminded them of Bonnie's trick, but Bonnie wasn't here. This was someone else.

_"Follow the leader, Klaus. The abandoned alley on your left."_

Questioningly, Klaus closed the distance between him and Damon, and as the pain gradually subsided, they both made their way left, just as the mysterious voice had instructed them.

As they neared the dark corners of the buildings surrounding them, Damon began to grow unsteady. Bits of garbage tumbled by and the wind gave off an eerie atmosphere. By now, they had gone deep enough so they were completely cut off from the town behind them.

Suddenly, Klaus stopped and froze.

"What is it?" Damon wondered in a whisper. "What do you hear?"

Klaus was beyond even noticing Damon's lips move. He just stared into space and Damon guessed that Mitch was sending him more of his head messages, only this time, Damon wasn't in on the conversation.

"I don't have the girl with me, Mitch!" Klaus shouted. "Instead, we've come to compromise."

"And I see you've brought a little bodyguard, Niklaus," said an even voice from the shadows ahead. Damon could just barely make out a slight flickering light, floating up and down, up and down. "Well, I guess I give up."

"Who are you?" Damon demanded, staring blindly as him and Klaus stepped forward into the blackness, where they could finally see the dark, silhouetted figure.

It was Brol, perched on the edge of a large blue Dumpster, leaning against the brick wall and tossing in his hand a small fireball, the flames not making any damage to his skin as he caught it over and over again, very professionally.

Damon sniffed. Bonnie was right; he was human.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Salvatore, that I haven't yet formally introduced myself yet. My name is Brol."

"How do you know me?" Damon asked, scanning the man from head to toe.

Klaus cleared his throat. "He knows everyone, Damon."

"Why, you're right Niklaus," Brol grinned evilly. "I know you, Damon Salvatore, turned only a hundred and forty-six years ago, right in this very town. Am I correct?"

Damon refused to answer. His nostrils flared as he watched Brol juggle his fireball.

"And I hear you and your brother, Stefan, seem to have a love for our little Elena, is that right?" he inquired. "Well, that might turn out to be a problem."

"As I said before, Brol," Klaus muttered. "We've come to compromise."

"Compromise?" he laughed and hopped lithely from the Dumpster. "There is nothing else we want more than that girl, Niklaus. We made ourselves clear yesterday, did we not?"

Damon took a step forward. "What do you want with her?"

Brol hesitated. He looked between him and Klaus before patting Damon on the shoulder and walking right through them, making both men have to turn around to see him.

"One thing at a time, Damon," he murmured, and tossed the fireball at him.

Reflexively, Damon made a move to catch it. But as it flew into the residence of his hand, it turned to dust and slipped through his fingers.

"Now, let's move on to more important manners, shall we?" he suggested. His lips curved up on one side and he crouched like a cat, ready to pounce.

Klaus was the Original, and thus was quicker than Damon to make his defensive move. But Brol was the quickest. Before Klaus could move, he was trapped inside a translucent box, enabling him to move a single muscle. He struggled against the near invisible walls that encased him, but they were too strong.

It was up to Damon. He knew the only reason he wasn't chained like Klaus was because Brol _wanted_ to fight with him, to get a taste of the competition before he finished him off.

Brol lunged at Damon. A monstrous blow pounded in his stomach so quick he hardly knew it was coming and Damon slammed into the brick and slid to the ground.

What made him so…_strong? _For crying out loud, this guy was a _human_.

Brol prowled toward him and Damon knew he was already finished with his work. He knew not to waste time that could save his life in the end.

But then his phone rang in his jeans. He couldn't find the will to answer it, and so it rang twice more before it beeped. It read the message out loud, so the whole alley could hear it.

_"Damon? Yeah, it's Elena. Look, we're all here at Alaric's send-off and you seem to be missing and we can't start without you, can we? Did you really think you could keep it from me that you snuck out? Damon, wherever you are, we know you went to find Mitch and I specifically told you… Okay, Damon. I only told you to stay away from him because I didn't want you getting hurt. None of us do. Just come home, okay? Come back to me_."

"_Come back to me."_

Brol snickered as he listened in on the message. "Guess you never got to say goodbye to your girlfriend, huh? You vampires are all the same. So predictable."

As he brought down his fist for the head punch, Damon heard Elena's voice again, and scraping up all his strength, he dodged the oncoming attack.

With Brol's attention diverted, he scrambled off.

ooo

The Gilbert kitchen was still crowded with people as the sleek blue sports car parked in front of the house. The car door slammed shut and the mood in the room shifted from worried to angry. Some shared exasperated glances, while others moaned in relief.

Keys jingled in the front door.

"I'm going to go outside and get the alter ready," Matt suggested, quietly, turning his back on everyone else and stepping out into the back yard. He slid the glass door shut behind him.

Damon was whistling as he came bounding into the kitchen. When he saw the many anxious faces staring at him, he paused.

"What'd I miss?" he asked.

Caroline leaned her head back and groaned. She pulled Tyler along with her and followed Matt outside.

"What's wrong with Blondie?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Do you ever think of anyone but yourself? We've been waiting for you for almost two hours and you never called saying where you were. Caroline's been freaking out, thinking the ceremony's off. She thinks it's all her fault."

Damon shrugged. "Maybe it was."

Bonnie looked disgusted as she, too, went out into the backyard, and away from Damon.

He glanced between the many annoyed faces and found Stefan's was the most disappointed of them all. His forehead was lined with nervousness and his green eyes were cast under his furrowed eyebrows.

"Would it make anyone feel better if I said I was sorry?" he tried to the group.

Jeremy stood up. "Not even if you meant it."

Damon sighed. "Where's Elena? Thought she was here."

"She's upstairs in her room and she won't come out. Do you have any idea what you put her through tonight, Damon? Everyone's tried getting her to come down, but she won't. Why don't you go up there and talk to her? Who knows, maybe she'll actually listen to you."

With three pairs of disapproving eyes on him, he made his way up the stairs. After a moment's hesitation, he knocked on her door.

"Please just leave me alone," said a very rough and hoarse sounding Elena from inside. Her voice was scraggly like she had just screamed at the top of her lungs for hours.

"Elena? It's me, Damon," he answered low and shamefully.

There was only silence on the other side of the door for a few minutes. Damon began to worry that Elena was going to be furious that he even tried to come and talk to her. But finally, Elena murmured, "Come in."

Slowly, Damon pushed open the door and stepped into the room.

Elena was laying down in her bed, on the right side as usual with her red afghan wrapped around her legs. The mint green pillow beneath her was splashed with her dark brown hair, strung across it like seaweed. Her eyes were red and puffy. Dried tears ran down her cheeks. She looked up at Damon as he entered.

He waved slightly at her, and then feeling like an idiot, slapped his hand back to his side and kept it there, even sticking it in his pocket for good measure.

Elena just sat still in bed, watching him squirm without saying a single word.

"Elena—" he started to say.

"Sit down," she interrupted, nodding toward a small white painted rocker near her side of the bed.

He nodded and obeyed her silently. But first he scooted the chair a bit closer to the bed before squatting down on it.

"I miss him," she mumbled. "Alaric."

"So do I. That's why I'm here," he teased. She didn't smile back and so he frowned. "What can I do, Elena?"

She shook her head. A few heartbeats later, she rolled over slightly and reached for his left hand. Folding it into both of hers, she brought it close to her heart and cuddled around it, feeling his cool lapis ring against her skin.

Warmth flooded up his entire arm and he liked where his hand was at the moment. Especially since this seemed to make Elena relax a bit more, and because she seemed to enjoy the sensation as much as him.

"I'm not mad at you for sneaking out, Damon," she said softly.

"Why not?" he wondered. "I would be mad at me. In fact, I'd hate me."

She smiled.

He reached up to gently brush a strand of hair that spilled over her cheek. "Now there's something I always like to see."

"Well it's seems that they've been hard to come by these days."

His eyes softened. "And I've been working my butt off to fix that, you know. Just tell me what you want me to, Elena just tell me and I'll do it."

"Why do you sound like you won't enjoy what I say?" she wondered, some raw playfulness seeping into her tone.

And then he was almost sucked in to the heat of her big brown eyes. He wanted to grab her harshly in his arms and kiss her right then, and never let go. He needed to put his mark on her, that she was his and his alone, forever. But he couldn't and she—she wasn't.

"Because I'm so afraid you'll want me to leave. And I'm not sure I could do that," he murmured, honestly.

Her expression turned passive and she shook her head. "Damon, you can't feel that way about me…"

"I know, I know. How can I forget you're not mine to leave in the first place?"

Untangling one of her hands, she touched his face with her index finger and softly wiped away a single teardrop that escaped his eye.

"I never asked you to love me," she said.

"And I never wanted fall, but I have and there's no going back. So you can break my heart, stomp on it, and send it away. But just know, it'll always be yours, Elena."

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

"I love you, Elena."

ooo

"Wonder what they're doing up there," Meredith murmured, digging her hands into her jacket pockets to defeat the chilly effects of the setting sun.

So they had waited all afternoon for Damon to show up and now that he was here, they _still_ had to wait for him to finally come downstairs with Elena. The party was growing edgy, but Caroline insisted the ceremony still go on.

"What do you _think_ they're doing, Meredith?" Stefan spat.

"Hey," Caroline warned. "You don't know that."

Stefan rubbed the back of his neck. "No but I know my brother."

There was a long moment of silence. Most everyone was seated in one of the rows of plastic folding chairs while others paced, impatiently and anxiously. So far, Alaric's funeral was not going as well as they had thought it would.

"Let's hope no one's starting without me," said Damon, stepping through the glass door with Elena behind him.

Stefan closed the distance between him and Elena in a few short bounds and grabbed her hand.

"Elena, I'm so glad you're safe. I mean, I had no idea what was going on up there and with everything that's going on, I don't think you should just take off like that anymore…"

She nodded. "I know. Especially since what Damon figured out today."

Stefan was intrigued. "And what was that?"

Elena hesitated. She didn't exactly know how to word this. But then she looked sideways and saw Damon give her an encouraging nod and she smiled.

"Mitch is in Mystic Falls. And he came for me."

"Twenty points to my lovely doppelganger, Brol," said Mitch, appearing in a gust of shadow black smoke behind Elena, with his fire-breathing friend at his side. "And I'll be taking you with me."

He wrapped his arm around Elena's neck and cut off her airways. She dug her nails into his flesh and struggled against him, but he was very strong.

Suddenly, Brol disappeared in the same puff of smoke, and Damon knew Mitch was next to leave, but with Elena attached to him, she would go as well. Thinking fast on his feet, he jumped forward and grabbed a fistful of Mitch's honey gold hair.

Stefan watched his brother and then made his move. He dove to the ground and wrapped his fingers around Mitch's ankle.

Just as the three began to dissolve from the world, Stefan felt a tugging at his own ankle and looked behind him to see Jeremy had held on as well.

That would make a total of five.

They dotted the ground with bodies as they landed in the damp grass in pitch darkness, among many scattered trees grown to full height. The canopy of branches created a spooky realm and the hum of cicadas mixed with the occasional cry of an owl would cause Elena to shiver.

All was mostly quiet as, one by one, they slowly stood up and shook off the stiffness that ached in their muscles. Damon groaned as he reached behind his back and pulled out a broken twig wedged beneath his shoulder blade. Jeremy had many cuts and scrapes on his face and Stefan was looking toward Elena, his face saying everything his lips weren't.

"Where are we?" his eyes seemed to read.

She shrugged.

Mitch and Brol were nowhere to be found in the dim forest. Elena took this opportunity to stumble toward Jeremy and wrap her arms around his shoulders.

"Let's get you out of here before they come back."

He started to sit up, but then he fell back into the grass, crying out in pain.

"What's wrong with him?" Stefan asked.

Elena examined him all over, and with a horrifying realization, she found the shin of his leg to be the source of the problem. It was twisted around, broken and bending in unnatural ways that scared Elena. The hem of his jeans was matted in thick dark splotches of blood and flesh.

"Oh no. His leg," she whimpered. "His leg is broken. Someone help me stand him up!"

Damon hobbled through the weeds on his knees and positioned himself under Jeremy's arm, where he could support his left side. "Okay, up you go, kid."

Stefan stepped forth and mirrored Damon's movements only on the right side of Jeremy. Like this, with Elena tagging behind, they started through the groups of trees, sometimes recognizing where they were and sometimes not. Until they stopped short at what was before them.

It was a round clearing, with a few muddy puddles here and there, but what truly caught their eye was the large opening in the ground, centered in the middle of the clearing. It looked as if once upon a time, it was a larger version of the Lockwood cellar, or the ancient Lockwood cave. Smooth oval stones were scattered around the area, some built up to Elena's waist height. More stones were built into steps, leading down, deeper into the hidden passageway.

Damon was dumbfounded. "What the…"

Then the piercing rang in their heads. Damon and Stefan instinctively released their hold on Jeremy, who was seemingly unharmed to the pain, and Elena clasped her hands to her head, howling in anger.

_"Don't leave just yet, dear Elena. The fun is just beginning_."

Stefan fought through the fire in his brain and stumbled forward. "Where are you, Mitch?" he growled.

There was a beat of silence, and then, suddenly, a ball of flames landed at the base of a tree just inches from Damon's shoulder and traveled up its trunk. Soon, the whole tree was up in flames.

Two more trees caught fire from the shower of orange glowing bombs.

"What's happening, Damon?" Elena cried.

"It's Brol. He knows how to play with fire."

"Brol?"

And then someone was behind Elena, so close she could feel hot breath in her ear. She felt the warm pulsating presence of the threat that was only human. If he had been a vampire, she wouldn't have been able to sense him standing behind her. But she did, and softly, he whispered against her cheek.

"You called for me, Elena, precious?"

She shuddered and jumped away from the man behind her.

"Stand back, Elena," Damon sneered. "He's dangerous."

"Well at least one of you has a brain around here," said Brol, tossing his silver lighter into the air and catching it easily. "But it'll make it that much harder for me to kill you when you don't hand Elena over to me."

She panicked. "No! No, I'll come with you. You can do whatever you want with me, just leave them alone."

"Like hell!" Damon shouted. Stefan stepped in front of Elena, protecting her.

"No one's getting Elena, tonight," he commanded in his steel-like voice. Elena felt confused. Something was wrong, and maybe more than just something, though. She had never actually seen Mitch or Brol for herself, but she didn't need to, because Brol had just blindly introduced himself. So where was Mitch?

The wind stirred, whipping Elena's hair and causing goose bumps to form on her bare arms. And that was when she noticed the empty space at Damon's feet.

"Jeremy!" she screamed, tears spilling over her eyes as she realized her brother was nowhere in sight. "Jeremy?"

Brol watched, amused, while they searched the woods frantically, calling his name over and over, with no response. The wind picked up rapidly and the air turned from chilly to freezing all in one second.

Elena felt as if her tears were ice cubes rolling down her cheeks as she ran up to Brol and stood on the tip of her toes to get in his face.

"Where is he?" she demanded through her teeth. "Please just give him back and I'll come with you."

He snickered. "Well fair is fair, Elena, isn't it, your brother's life for your own? Some of the many hardships of being the doppelganger, I'm afraid. Waiting just the right moment to call your bluff, and what to do with the cards you've been dealt. It seems you'll always be the one sacrificed for a price."

"Did you take my brother just to reel me in? Is that what you're doing?"

Now he was beaming at her. "You raise, I fold."

She slapped him across the cheek, hard enough to send her palm tingling. But it wasn't a painful feeling, but an eager one. She wanted more, to hit him again and not stop till she drew his delicious human blood. It could be so easy…

But then the tingling in her hand _was_ painful, and spreading. She lifted her arm up and flipped her hand over to investigate what was happening.

From underneath her skin, deep, milky, black splotches were spreading throughout her entire palm. The color seemed to mark the points where her flesh hurt the most. It laced around her entire hand, moving quickly into each and everyone of her fingers and seeping further down and deeper in her wrist. But it didn't stop there. The ink-looking manifestation colored all the way up to her elbow and beyond.

The pain was near unbearable now. She bit her tongue to hold back the screams but she just couldn't find the strength anymore. She let her head fall back and wailed.

"Stop it, Brol!" Damon yelled. "You're killing her!"

"You need her alive, remember?" Stefan taunted, loudly.

Brol merely raised his eyebrows in innocence. "The bruises are only blood-poisoning and as soon as it reaches the entirety of her body, her heart will stop. But of course, considering she's unlucky enough to have been beholden with the curse of immortality, she'll heal. At which time, I shall infest her again."

By then, Elena's entire shoulder was the same shade of murky ebony. She was growing weaker as her arm hurt like never before. She dropped to her knees and gripped fistfuls of grass between her fingers, dragging her nails through the tough soil. Tendrils of ink crawled up her face…

"Enough, Brol."

The command came from high up in the tallest tree that was not blazing in flames. Elena recognized the same voice that had kidnapped her back at the house.

Mitch.

Suddenly, the pain stopped consuming Elena and she felt blissfully tired. She crawled on her butt to one of the trees and leaned against it, panting heavily. Lifting her hand, she saw her skin was back to its normal color. She sighed.

Stefan went to her side and felt her sweating forehead.

"Are you okay?" he mouthed.

She nodded, feebly.

Mitch hopped from the limb he was sitting on, at least thirty feet high, and landed easily on the balls of his feet. He went to stand before Brol.

"Hurting the doppelganger was never the plan! You were to take her brother and be done!" he said through his teeth.

Brol stepped forward. "You do not order me around anymore, Mitch. Now, our guests are probably wondering where the boy is but if you'd rather start an argument than live our last few hundred years then please continue."

Damon and Stefan shared a confused glance. What did his words mean? They both knew that the doppelganger comes around every few hundred years, as he had just said. So was that what he was suggesting? But that still doesn't explain _why_ they wanted Elena.

Mitch ground his sharp, white teeth together and slowly turned around to face them.

"Where's my brother?" Elena demanded before he could say a word.

"Relax, dearest, he is not far."

Damon clenched his hands into fists. "I swear, if you lay a hand on him…"

Mitch smiled. "That won't be necessary, Damon. By the way, I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to meet earlier today. I hope my friend, Brol, was hospitable enough."

Brol chuckled.

"If you're not going to hurt Jeremy, then why'd you take him?" he persisted.

"He's what's known as leverage, Damon. But I will assure you we have no interest in the _boy_ whatsoever." He rotated his neck to look straight at Elena, who was still sitting against the tree trunk.

Stefan growled. "Give us Jeremy."

Mitch turned to Brol. "You heard him, Brol. Retrieve the boy."

He frowned and ducked into the thick of the forest without another word.

"And while you're at it, Mitch," Damon sneered, "Why don't you tell us what you want with Elena in the first place."

After a moment, he sighed. "Well, I think it would be easier for me to _show_ you, Mr. Salvatore."

He walked up to the mouth of the underground cellar just a few feet away in leaned in. "Little lovely? Why don't you come out and say hi to our friends?"

There was no response from the hollow darkness. But Mitch seemed to know something was in there, for he waited patiently, his eyes shining.

Damon, Stefan, and Elena sat still as statues, their hearts pounding loudly, watching the giant cave for any sign of activity or life inside. They weren't so sure that there really was anything inside. Maybe Mitch was just crazy.

But then they heard a slight padding against the smooth stone steps. It grew louder, and louder, until there was a small figure to go with the sound.

At the top of the stairs, stood a short lady, very thin and fragile looking with arms as big around as golf balls. Her skin, once probably pretty, was now gray looking and translucent. Her eyes were big and brown, cast down in sadness, her face rounded and heart-shaped. Her lips were full, and pink. She had long hair to her waist, dark brown and wavy. Some strands were twisted into loose braids. Leaves and bracken were scattered through her locks.

And she looked so much like Elena that they all gasped.

"Katherine?" Damon whispered.

The girl hardly heard him speak. She stared at her own dirty feet and was silent.

"Actually, Damon, this is not Katherine," Mitch said, smiling hugely at her. Elena noticed how he would stare at the girl, his eyes shining, not with affection, but with greed. It was as if she was only a horse being sold off to him. "Lovely? Why don't you introduce yourself?"

Slowly, and unsurely, the girl looked up them.

"Hello," she said in a rough voice. "I am Tatia."

ooo

Jeremy heard the approaching footsteps and began to shake.

He had no idea where he was. One minute, he was bleeding and broken and lying at the Salvatore brother's feet while the vampires cringed in agony, and in the next, he was somewhere faraway, in the same wilderness no doubt, but all alone. Very alone.

He looked down and felt his leg. It was perfectly smooth and healed. The flesh was soft and unscathed, the bones fully aligned. All that was left was the blood stained in his jeans. If it weren't for that, he would have not even remembered his leg being hurt in the first place.

The footsteps were getting closer. A twig snapped from beneath them. Jeremy curled into the fetal position behind a bush and clamped a hand over his mouth to prevent ay noise. His heart pounded furiously.

Time went by slowly as the stranger came right up to Jeremy, and then passed him by, walking further and further away until he couldn't even be heard anymore.

Jeremy sighed in relief.

"Why so scared, mate?"

He practically jumped out of his socks when he looked up to see Klaus kneeling over him. Then the fear and panic kicked in and he began to crawl backwards and away from him.

Klaus wrapped his long fingers around the toe of Jeremy's boot and gave a slight yank.

Jeremy came dragging back against his will. He gripped at blades of grass and tree roots but he couldn't fight it. Soon he was back in front of the deadly hybrid.

"What are you doing here?" he panted, trying to sound fierce. "Who was that, that I heard just a second ago?"

Klaus opened his mouth to answer, and then shut it. He sniffed and looked down at Jeremy's bloody pant leg.

"What's happened there?" he asked.

Jeremy was in no mood to play this game. "I was hurt when we teleported here."

Klaus heard something in his words that made his eyes widen. "Where's Elena? Is she here? I have to find her. Can you lead me to her?"

Jeremy shook his head. "I don't even know where _I _am, let alone them. Why? Is she in danger?"

He looked at Jeremy evenly. "I don't know, Jeremy. But let's stop playing fifty questions and get Elena, before Mitch does."

He nodded. Klaus stood up and offered Jeremy his hand. He took it reluctantly and followed Klaus through the woods, praying his sister was still alive. They were most likely all in terrible peril. At least he still had his ring with him.

ooo

Mitch leaned down toward Tatia, lightly fingered a healed cut at her throat, and then dug his thumb into it, until it opened and the blood poured out. Quickly, he put his mouth against the wound and drank until it closed again, in a matter of seconds.

Tatia merely stood there while he drained her.

Mitch took a step back and closed his eyes. Elena watched as the edges of his profile started to glow bright silver. His aura was more menacing than ever. Her vampire instincts kicked in and she pulled her lips over her teeth, snarling.

Shade by shade, his glow slowly subsided, drawing inside of him and he let out a breath, and opened his now silver eyes.

Elena's jaw dropped as all the missing pieces of the puzzle suddenly fell into place for her.

Tatia had not died the night Esther turned her family into vampires, but turned into one herself. She was the power source that Bonnie had told them about, the one no one knew of. So Mitch and Brol kept her hidden away, feeding on her blood to sustain their incredible strength. And that's why they wanted Elena, because she was a vampire doppelganger, just like Tatia.

Elena felt like she would cry again as both Damon and Stefan realized this, as well.

"The blood is what makes you so strong, isn't it?" she whispered, trying to speak around the lump in her throat. "But how does it do it?"

Mitch wiped the back of his hand over his mouth and licked his lips. "The blood of the _human_ doppelganger is pure, and can only do harm when spelled, or cursed. But as a vampire, it can become a potent binding agent with my own human genetics. It feeds me its magic, and I have powers you can only dream of."

"And Tatia just lets you feed on her?" she asked, accusingly.

"More or less," he admitted. "But we made a deal. She allows us to feed on her whenever we want, as long as we don't harm her precious Elijah."

Elena's heart ached a little as she remembered the story Damon had told her about the Klaus, Elijah, Tatia love triangle. As humans, they had both adored her, until Esther supposedly killed her to end the feud. So all that time, Tatia preferred Elijah?

"But, unfortunately," he continued. "Her blood weakens with every new doppelganger that comes around. We hunted for Katherine for a time, back in the early fifteen hundreds, but then we found out that Elijah was also chasing her and we were forced to back off. Our hands were tied. Until, of course, you came along, Elena. You're young, and so your blood will be fresh and very, very powerful."

"Well, I won't give you my blood. And if you kill the people that I love then you might as well kill me too, because I won't stop until I have died with them. You have my word, Mitch," she vowed.

Damon stepped toward Elena. "So you can be on your way, now."

Mitch smiled at them for a minute. Finally, he turned slightly to the left.

"Well, so glad you could join us, Jeremy. And where might Brol be?" he asked as Jeremy entered the clearing, alone. Elena sighed in relief to see he was not limping anymore, but looked completely fine.

"I'm not sure," he said oddly, as if reading from a script. "I heard Elena screaming, and found you myself."

"Excellent. I was just about to grab Elena and be off, so you can say your goodbyes now."

"No!" snarled Damon. "You'll have to kill me before you even lay a finger on her."

Mitch crouched. "That can be arranged."

And then he lunged for Damon; only in midair did he collide with someone else entirely. He fell to the ground and landed flat on his back.

Klaus landed on his feet and stood before Mitch.

Mitch chuckled, hysterically and pulled himself off the ground. "Seriously, man. Are you going to kill me, or something?"

"Well," Klaus said, and raised his end to expose the wooden stake clenched in his fist. "I'm not sure how. I mean, I know you're not a vampire but I hope this will suffice."

And then he pummeled Mitch to the ground where they rolled around in the small mud ponds. Elena heard the sound of blows being given, but through the chaos of the fight, could not tell who was winning, and who was losing.

Regardless, she decided to seize the opportunity and grabbed Jeremy's hand.

"Come on," she called to Stefan and Damon. "We have to get Jeremy out of here before someone gets hurt."

They followed her as she began to sneak away from the clearing. But she was stopped short by a black figure that stepped out from behind one of the blazing trees.

Brol blocked their exit, completely. Damon and Stefan tensed.

"No one's going anywhere," Brol warned, low and menacing. "Not until the doppelganger is ours."

"Well sorry," Damon retorted, glancing at the brawl going on behind them. "But I think at the moment you are outnumbered. So either move out of the way, or I will snap your neck."

From his side, he flicked a small flame to life from his silver lighter. "You go on and try. But first," he turned to Jeremy. "I kind of want you on our side."

And then he punched him hard in the nose. Elena heard a crunch and screamed, high and shrill. Jeremy fell to the ground, knocked out cold.

"What is wrong with you?" she demanded loudly.

He gripped her forearm and dragged back into the circle of the clearing and right up to the cave where Tatia awaited patiently. He pushed her down onto a heap of rubble and wagged a finger at her.

"You sit here and don't move an inch, or I'll kill both those Salvatores and not think twice about it."

"What is wrong with you?" she repeated. "How can you just kill innocent people like that?"

"Innocent?" he spat. "Those are vampires, Elena, just like you. They're disgusting, malignant, _parasites._ They don't deserve to live. None of them."

"Maybe not," she whispered. "But they do deserve to choose their fate for themselves, just like you have."

He stared at her, nostrils flared before he turned on his heel and grabbed Klaus by his collar, yanking him from the fight. His face was completely scarred and bruised all over.

Mitch stood and straightened his shirt and vest ensemble. He laughed and patted Brol on the back.

"Well done, friend. And now we must get rid of him."

"I've got a plan," he murmured in response and turned around to where Damon and Stefan were bowed over Jeremy's lank body and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, Jeremy's hand twitched and his eyes flew open.

He was on his feet in seconds and cringed away from the two, as if they were poisonous insects.

Oh no, Elena thought, not now.

"Um, Jeremy, my boy?" Brol called to him. "Why don't you come over here and stake this awful vampire for me?"

And slowly, to Elena's utter horror, Jeremy smiled.

ooo

"No! Jeremy, please, I'm begging you! Don't do it!" Elena cried, flying up from her seat and bounding forward.

Jeremy strode toward where Brol and Mitch were holding onto Klaus. Brol pinned his hands behind his back and Mitch gripped his head up, exposing his neck.

When Mitch passed the wooden stake to Jeremy, Elena noticed for the first time what it was. The silvery lattice work dripping down its side meant that it was the indestructible white oak stake, the one they thought was lost when Alaric died.

He gripped its handle and stared Klaus down. "I'm sorry, Elena, but I have to."

"Jeremy!"

Damon and Stefan lunged forward to pin him down, but suddenly one of the small fires still burning spread across the ground, creating a barrier that separated them from the rest of the clearing.

Jeremy lifted the stake.

"No!"

This time, the cry did not come from Elena. It was Tatia who came running, fast as lightening and jumped in front of Klaus just as the stake came down on her heart.

Elena gasped.

Slowly, Tatia slid to the ground. Brol and Mitch howled in anger at what had just happened. They doubled over, as if somehow weakened, and fell back, clenching their stomachs.

Jeremy slid the stake out of Tatia, wide-eyed and trembling, and dropped it to the ground.

Klaus crouched down on his knees and pulled Tatia into his arms, weeping.

"No, Tatia, no! I just got you back," he mumbled into her hair.

With her last few seconds, she smiled up at him. Then, she did something that shocked Elena. She dipped her fingers into the wound in her chest and they came out red. Gently, she put her fingers to Klaus's lips.

The many cuts and bruises on his face began to disappear. His lip shrunk down to normal size and the right side of his eye lifted. He really had been beaten up pretty bad.

Tatia's hand fell into her own lap. Grayish veins crawled up her face, and she stopped breathing.

Klaus let his head fall forward as he cried out. From across the clearing, the fire that contained Stefan and Damon fell and let out. Damon jumped forward and consoled the terrified Jeremy.

Elena walked over to where Klaus held the dead body and stooped next to him. Her forehead was wet from where his tears continue to fall and he shamelessly looked up at Elena, desperately. She smiled apologetically at him and delicately laid her hand over Tatia's eyes, sliding them shut.

"You should close her eyes," she murmured softly. "I'm sorry, Klaus."

He didn't answer. Only continued to cry over Tatia.

"Elena!" called Damon. She turned around to face him. "It's not over," he warned.

It's not over.

She got to her feet and went over to Jeremy. She touched his cheek and looked into his dead eyes. His pupils were as big as saucers.

"You would die for the vampires?" he asked.

"Just the good ones," she smiled back.

He didn't return it. "And why should I believe that there's any difference? They're all violent, hostile, liars and none of them can be trusted."

"Then trust _me_, Jer," she whispered. "Trust you sister, who loves you in every way. Trust the one person you have left of your family. I would never let anyone hurt you, you understand. You and I? We look out for each other. And I'm not giving up until you can have a normal, safe life. The kind of life mom and dad wanted us to have before they died. I'm not asking you to accept the vampires, just accept me, as I have accepted you."

Slowly, his pupils shrunk back down to regular size. She smiled again and kissed his cheek. Hopefully, this would be the end of his creepy dark side for a while.

"_Jeremy, watch out_!" shouted Damon.

From then on, the next few seconds passed by in slow motion for Elena. From the corner of her eye, she saw as Mitch, his eyes crazy and hateful, gripped the white oak stake in his hand and dove for Jeremy. Damon froze. Elena froze.

Jeremy gasped and leaped out of the way of the oncoming weapon. He fell to the ground and landed on his back.

Mitch was still advancing. He couldn't stop himself. It was too late.

The stake tore right through Elena's chest so brutally that her entire body went cold from the pain. Her entire being immediately wanted to dislodge the obstruction but she could hardly move. Tears streamed down her face as she fell to her knees.

Mitch, horrified at what he'd done, released his hold on the stake and stumbled backwards.

"No," Damon choked, his eyes wet. "No. No, no, no, no, no. No."

He stumbled to his feet and caught Elena just as she fell forward, holding her shoulders ad looking into her eyes as his lips trembled. Stefan was there the next second, cradling her face in his hands, his eyes also wet.

"Elena…"

Her lips spread faintly, and she touched their cheeks softly.

Then she looked straight ahead, to where Klaus had runoff, abandoning Tatia's body on the ground, cold and lifeless. Elena stared at the dark spot on the front of her tattered shirt and, with the last of her strength, she got an idea.

Lifting her fingers up to it, she struggled with the stake until finally it came loose from her body. She felt its cool smoothness against her fingers as she stumbled on her knees until she was hovering over Mitch, his face in anguish.

She brought the stake, dipped and soaked in the blood of the third vampire doppelganger up, putting her shoulder blades into it as she drove it into Mitch's heart.

He coughed and hacked into the ground as everything about him began to change. His skin turned ghostly pale. His teeth rounded at the edges. His hair shriveled up and frayed. His eyes went from silver, to dead black. The muscles in his arms and shoulders shrunk and his fingernails turned green underneath.

"I can't breathe," he panted.

And then something happened, something strange. It made every living and unloving soul in the clearing stop and gasp, gasp as the weak, feeble human on the ground lay before the dying doppelganger in despair.

What happened was the odd silver glow from before returned to Mitch, only except now, it was moving away from him. It exited through his heart, through his nose, ears, and mouth. It floated through the air like string, headed towards Elena. She closed her eyes and breathed it in deeply.

Then suddenly, she was strong again. She stood up and fell into Damon's, Stefan and Jeremy's embraces wholeheartedly, bawling like the true idiot she was.

From across the clearing, Brol turned around and zipped off into the woods and away.

ooo

Two weeks later, Elena was in the kitchen, making Jeremy dinner under the watch of Stefan and Damon, like usual. Since the night in the forest, they had hardly taken their eyes off of her for one second; afraid they might loose her again.

"What's there to worry about?" she asked for the hundredth time. "Brol fled to Timbuktu and Mitch is just a regular human now. We won, guys."

Stefan smiled. "Not yet. We still don't know where Klaus is these days."

"And," Damon tacked on, "how many buddies Brol and Mitch had that want to come and take advantage of you."

She began chopping an onion. "Well, when they do, we'll be ready. We have Bonnie looking for a spell that can undo the magic in me, and Jeremy is doing really well with his dark side. Nothing can stop us from kicking butt."

They laughed at her.

"But, honestly," Damon asked. "What are we going to do, for now?"

"Right now, we're going to take it day by day. And then, when its all over and done with, we'll see about trying out that funeral again."

**Well there's the end of my story…but not quite! Stay tuned for my follow up story, which leads off right here from my very short, very lazy epilogue! I'm not sure what its called yet but I'll send out an update, definitely, as soon as its published! So I hoped you enjoyed Change Begins in the Heart and read the next one! Bye bye!**


End file.
